Cartoon Paradox
by BrownPizza7
Summary: Hilda finds herself in a place where her entire world view is shattered. With the help of a teenage girl, she must find a way home while keeping her sanity intact. Or else she very well might lose her own mind. (Complete)
1. Chapter 1 - The Stranger Girl

**Part 1 of 4**

* * *

A muddled feeling overtook Hilda's senses as she slowly regained consciousness.

She blinked once, and then let a yawn escape her mouth. There was so much warmth around her, encasing her in a snugly little nest. It was so comfortable in her bed. The typical soft pillows, the heavy blanket, the perfect laying position. She could even feel the presence of Twig and Alfur nearby looking out for her. They were probably asleep as well, but just their presence was enough to make her feel safe. The winter months had been harsh to all of them, but at least in the house, she could feel the heat that was once present all those summers ago.

In the blink of an eye, billions of thoughts flooded Hilda's mind. The thoughts she heard were small and weak, not a single one she could detect any importance of. It was just mindless drabble that came with the notion of waking up. This realization, of course, is when she began to feel her other senses slowly start to flutter to life. Her eyes opened, but they were heavy. That was to be expected, after all, no one's senses are perfect after a good long sleep. Because of this though, everything was blurry. She couldn't detect much, in fact, all she could see was the end of her bed where her hat was quietly perched.

The tired adventurer perked up hearing a strange noise being produced. This was odd for several reasons. For starters, Alfur and Twig usually didn't wake up until Hilda herself had, so the noise couldn't have been coming from them. Her mother also couldn't have been producing it, the sound came from right next to her, and her mother's room was on the other side of the hallway. She also didn't have an alarm clock, her mental alarm system was enough to help her wake up early in the morning and night. It was pretty effective, so there would be no need for any rude awakening from an electronic clock.

So what was it...?

The noise came from beside her, it was louder this time. Her body was weak, but she still picked herself up and quickly moved her blanket aside.

"Whose there?" Hilda said wearily, rubbing her eyes until the world finally came to view.

Before she knew it, her eyes focused, and in front of her...

Was a shocking scene that caused her to snap right awake.

In front of her was a T.V set, producing the sound Hilda was hearing prior. But Hilda didn't care about that, because a person was sitting in front of her, a girl in fact... staring at her with widened eyes.

"...!"

"...!"

Both Hilda and the girl were silent, staring at each other in surprise. Alarm bells were going off in Hilda's mind. Someone had broken into her home, and was sitting in her room! She should've called someone the moment she saw her. But for some reason this house robber she saw was just sitting there, her legs crossed, looking just as surprised as Hilda. She looked harmless enough, but this girl was a stranger, and somehow she had gotten into Hilda's home, which definitely wasn't accepting any guest during nighttime.

The girl didn't move, and neither did Hilda. The shock of the situation she found herself was too much. She would've said something, or maybe even screamed, but nothing came out. She didn't know what to say.

The girl had the perfect response though.

"HOLY SH-!"

The girl's hands flew to cover her mouth before she could finish the rest, sweating a bit after the fact.

"holy shoot...!" the girl rephrased quietly, confusing Hilda even more.

Now she was talking though, the perfect time to ask some questions.

"W-who are you? What are you doing in my house!" Hilda sternly asked.

The girl lowered her hands, but still kept her eyes within a point-blank radius at Hilda. She looked so confused, even more then Hilda was. Hilda took this time to observe the girl. This proved to confuse her even more though with her appearance. She was wearing comfortable night clothing, complete with a dark tank top and night shorts. She had short wild hair, nothing like Hilda's glowing blue hair. She was way taller than her, maybe a teenager. Hilda couldn't really tell, she had a young-looking face.

She stared back into the girl's eyes, which were slightly teary.

"I-I can't believe it... this is actually..." the girl started, "y-you're actually real..."

_What is this girl talking about?_ Hilda thought.

"I asked you a question, who are you?" Hilda repeated, eyeing the rest of the room, "and how did you get-"

But Hilda didn't get to finish, because to her shock, she found herself somewhere completely different than her own home.

She was in a large bedroom, which mostly was pink and girly looking. Hilda was still standing on her bed, but other than that, everything else was completely unrecognizable to her. There was another bed near the middle of the room fit for a queen, the metal frame curving stylishly into an elegant looking king-sized bed. White strings of lights were set up messily behind the bed, with photos being plastered under each light. A huge fluffy pink carpet lied under it, spreading out to the rest of the room where a glass door rested. Beyond it, she could clearly see a patio bathed in the glowing moonlight.

This room was way to fancy for her. She definitely wasn't at her house, but it thankfully quelled the growing concern as to why Alfur and Twig hadn't woken up yet from her and the girl's questions. She had no idea if this answered satisfied or worried her even more.

Hilda quickly turned back to the girl to see her sweating.

She promised herself she wouldn't freak out from this...

But she couldn't help herself.

"W-WHERE AM I?!" she screamed.

The girl fluttered back a bit as Hilda clumsily fell out of her bed.

*_**BAM**_*

There was no pain, but they're certainly was an impact. Right onto the carpet in fact. It was a hard landing despite the apparent soft surface. But even that didn't concern Hilda, she quickly recovered and got up, widely looking around in fear.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?! WHERE AM I!? WHO ARE YOU!? WHAT IS HAPPENING?! WHERE IS-!"

"W-whoa! W-wait... let's calm down now!" the girl said, "I'm just as-"

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME WHEN I'M FREAKING OUT!" Hilda shouted.

The girl's hands grabbed onto Hilda's shoulders and started shaking her roughly.

"STOP PANICKING!" she screamed, "YOU'RE MAKING ME FREAK OUT TO!"

"WELL, WHY ARE YOU FREAKED OUT!?" Hilda screamed back.

"I DON'T KNOW!" the girl shouted, "BECAUSE OF A LOT OF THINGS RIGHT NOW!"

Shaking. Shaking. Shaking. The girl was still shaking her.

"CAN YOU STOP SHAKING ME!" Hilda yelled, her stomach suddenly getting squeamish.

"ONLY IF YOU STOP SCREAMING FIRST!" the girl said.

"ALRIGHT THEN!" Hilda shouted.

"..."

"..."

Slowly, the girl let go of Hilda's shoulders.

"O-Okay then, now that's over..." she said, "y-your good right?"

"Yeah," Hilda responded, "I'm good..."

"..."

"..."

"U-um, I'm really sorry about shaking you..." she said, "this is all just so..."

She had her hands over her mouth for whatever reason. She didn't look like a threat, but she didn't look like much of a friend either. Hilda had no idea what to think of the girl just now. All she could think about was her situation.

"Hey, are you going to be okay?" Hilda asked, "you're shaking..."

The girl took a deep breath and faced Hilda, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Uh... yeah," she admitted, "sorry for that... it's... i'm fine."

She looked down once more, picking at the fabric of the carpet with her fingers. She definitely didn't look okay, but Hilda couldn't really do anything about that now. For now, she had to find out where she was.

"Uh... do you know where we are" Hilda asked.

"Y-yeah... this is my house..." she said, "or actually it's my parents. I don't own the place yet..."

"I see..." Hilda said, "so this must be your bedroom..."

The girl looked up and quickly nodded.

"I'm sorry it's messy," she said, "I w-wasn't expecting anyone to appear... especially you..."

Hilda perked up at the mention of those last few words.

"So you don't know what's going on to me either?"

The girl looked up and nodded.

_So some outside force is at play here,_ Hilda thought, _but what could that be? And why exactly here?_

Hilda looked at the girl, who was quietly sitting there. She was still a stranger, but if this phenomenon was somehow effecting her to, then she wasn't a threat. She didn't look like one, but Hilda wasn't sure at first. She still wasn't honestly. Thing were moving way to fast for her to process it correctly.

"How about we introduce ourselves before we talk about anything specific?" Hilda asked, "it would relieve some of the... tension taking place right now."

The girl nodded in agreement.

"Okay then, I guess i'll go first," Hilda said.

"Oh, there's no need..." the girl exclaimed, "I already know you. You're Hilda."

Shock struck Hilda like a speeding train. It definitely didn't help relieve the tension she was feeling at that moment.

"You know me?" Hilda repeated.

"U-uh... yeah... I kind of do..." she admitted, "a lot of people do... sorry..."

"Oh no, don't apologize," Hilda quickly said, "i'm just surprised that my name has someone gotten out there beyond Trolberg..."

The girls were silent for a moment, processing the conversation. The fact that so many people knew Hilda's name was somewhat distressing. How was that even possible? She was just some girl who happened to deal with strange events. She might be well known in school, but somehow people from outside Trolberg have heard of her?

_This is getting even weirder then I thought,_ Hilda said.

Hilda turned toward the girl again, who was still just sitting there.

"Is it okay for me to introduce myself?" she asked.

"Of course..." Hilda said, "you don't exactly need permission to-"

Suddenly, just as Hilda said that, the girl extended her hand out to her.

"I-I'm Catherine..." she said, "it's a p-pleasure to... meet you..."

Her hands were cold and a bit larger than Hilda's, but other than that nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary with her. Well, besides her reactions of course. She appeared to be friendly though, which was enough for Hilda to slightly drop her guard.

Only slightly though, Catherine was still weirdly rubbing Hilda's hands.

After breaking away from the handshake, Hilda turned her attention back toward her eyes, which were slightly transfixed on Hilda's hands.

"They even felt real to..." Catherine said, "Is this like... one of those cartoon paradox's people write about?"

Hilda tried her best to not let her growing concern lessen her judgment on her, and instead focus on the aspect of the sentence which intrigued her the most.

"I'm sorry... I don't understand what you're talking about," Hilda said, "what do you mean cartoon paradoxes? Do you know what's going on?"

Catherine looked up, a tinge of worry clearly visible upon her face.

"I-I think... maybe I do..." Catherine said, "but you might not like the answer."

Before Hilda could ask why, Catherine slowly stood up and quickly grabbed some sort of controller. She started pushing buttons that made the T.V in front of them switch in a menu of sorts showing a bunch of certain shows.

"By any chance..." Catherine started, "d-do you know what Netflix's is?"

The name struck no fragment of her memory.

"Is that some kind of person you're referring to?" Hilda asked.

Catherine looked down as she began scrolling through different shows.

"N-no, it's a streaming service where you can watch movies and stuff," she said, "like... it shows you entertainment media that were made by different companies."

"..."

"..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Hilda admitted.

Catherine sighed and turned toward the T.V.

"I'm literally having a mental breakdown right now..." Catherine said quickly.

Finally, Catherine landed on a certain show before covering up with her hand.

"Are you sure you want to know what's going on?" she asked, "it might just crush your very soul thinking about you and your friends existence..."

"Of course," Hilda said, "although that sounds mildly worrying..."

Catherine breathed in deeply.

"Ummmmmmmmmm, actually it's probably worse than that..." she said.

She quickly moved out of the way and pressed play before Hilda could read the title of the show. The screen turned black, and music started to pick up. While slightly concerned at this point, the prospect of knowing the truth pushed Hilda over the edge.

And so she watched.

And to her surprise, a scene unlike anything she's ever witnessed before began to play.

It showed her house. Her old one actually. It was still intact, peacefully sitting in the middle of the valley just like it was before Jorgen stepped on it. It looked just like it as well. The red wood. The chimney. Even the windmill right beside it.

Before Hilda could process what this meant, four woffs suddenly flew right by the screen before appearing in the sky, revealing a text in their wake.

"_A Netflix Original Series?_" Hilda said aloud, "but, that's my old house. That's the wilderness..."

She looked at Catherine confused, who was standing there nervously.

"I'm really sorry..." she said, "you can stop watching it if-"

But Hilda didn't listen. She quickly turned back toward the T.V as the rest of the opening played.

And right before her eyes, her entire world was shattered.

* * *

**To Be Continued in Chapter 2: "The Sky House"**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Sky House

**Part 2 of 4**

* * *

Shattered. Destroyed. Annihilated.

So many words to describe how Hilda felt as she watched her life playing out before her. Emotions surging up and down, threatening to boil over into reality. Only Hilda didn't know if this was actual reality. Maybe it was a dream. A nightmare in fact. Yes. It was a massive nightmare that she would soon wake up from. That was the truth. That had to be the answer. She wouldn't believe this. She couldn't. It wasn't real.

But then the rest of the episodes played.

Episode 1... 2... 3... 4... 5...

Each one with "titles" and "descriptions". Animated in a smooth motion, with the style retaining it's cute and friendly appearance. Everything was there.

Her conversations, her life, her adventures, her ordeals.

Her anger. Sadness. Insecurities. Problems. Solutions. Effects.

Her entire life...

All of it contained on a digital platform meant for... _"entertainment"..._

She stopped paying attention about halfway through episode 3. She technically already knew everything that would happen afterword. She didn't need to be reminded of it. Or rather... she didn't want to be reminded that it wasn't...

_Real..._

Once episode 5 finished playing, Catherine paused the screen. Hilda had forgotten the girl was even there after what she discovered.

"..."

Catherine wasn't speaking. She must've been observing her reaction. Hilda didn't care. All she could see anymore was the digital pixels forming together to cause her body to move on the screen. All she could think about were the pencil strokes that were done to create the setting she always found herself admiring. All she could wonder about was...

Her entire existence meaning nothing.

It wasn't just her she was thinking about either. She couldn't help but wonder about everyone she came to know. Everyone she came to care for...

_David. Frida. Alfur. Twig. Mum. Raven. Tontu._

All the interactions. The moments. The conversations.

They all meant... nothing...

_How many people watched this? _Hilda wondered, _How many people enjoyed seeing... me and my friends on screen?_

How many indeed?

It felt like hours. It felt like days. It felt like nothing.

She felt like the lights flickered around her. A foul odor filled her senses. Maybe that's all it ever would be...

"Hilda... can you hear me?"

She snapped to focus and found herself turning around to face the eyes of Catherine. She was standing there quietly, her hands clenched, her lips pursed. A trickle of sweat coming down her brow.

Even though Hilda didn't even know her that well... all she could think was...

_How long have you been watching me?_

Catherine stood there, staring at her. No wonder she was so nervous. A "fictional" character was literally sitting in her bedroom. Not only that, that same "fictional" character had just come to realize her life was purely created for entertainment purposes. Of course, she would be terrified of Hilda's reaction. Anyone else in her shoes might've been to.

Silence for the longest time. It drew out for eons and eons. A little thread of string, just waiting to be cut. Dropping. Trying to get herself back together.

_Snap out of it, _she thought.

But she couldn't. Her life. Her mother's life. Her friend's life. None of it mattered. It wasn't real, so none of it meant anything. None of it at all.

_Snap. Out. Of. It._

Who did this? Why? Why here? Did they want her to see this? Why? What would they gain? What would she gain? Just the knowledge that her life meant nothing.

_nothing_...

_nothing_...

_nothing_...

She couldn't see...

**_SNAPOUTOFIT!_**

"Hilda..." Catherine said.

"..."

"..."

Hilda turned again to meet Catherine's eyes. They were weary-looking.

"I'm so sorry..." she started.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"It's..." Hilda started, but she stopped at the last second.

She knew how to finish the sentence. She wanted to say she was fine. But she wasn't. She could never be "fine" after finding something out like this. She couldn't even lie to herself about that fact. In reality, Hilda had no idea what to think of. She was fake. Fictional. But that didn't mean it wasn't real right? She was standing right there. Thinking. Talking. Wondering.

She had to be real...

"Hilda... I..." Catherine said.

More silence.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"How long?" Hilda said.

"W-what?" Catherine said.

Hilda turned toward her.

"How long has this been airing?" she asked again.

Catherine looked toward her hands, beginning the twiddle her thumbs.

"A-at least about... a year..." she said.

A year. Her life has been on display for an entire year.

Why was that idea just horrifying to her?

Suddenly, before Hilda could react, Catherine headed to her bedroom door. It surprised Hilda with how fast she moved. It was almost if she wanted to get away from her. But before she left, she turned around with a nervous look present on her face.

"I'll... give you some space to... think about this..." she said.

Hilda just stared as she Catherine sighed.

"Take as long as you need..." was all she said.

And then she left.

It was a good thing she did to because Hilda could already feel the tears filling up in her eyes. Why was she crying? She didn't even know. She started to wipe the tears away, but they remained somehow. Was this real? Were these tears fake too? Why was she even wondering about this?

Why was she thinking about anything?

* * *

**30 Minutes Later**

Hilda was on her bed, clutching one of the pillows.

She needed to hold onto something. She felt like if she did, at least she could keep one piece of her life from falling apart. The pillow she clutched was brand new. Johanna bought it last week because Hilda had somehow lost most of her other ones. She didn't want to tell her mom they vanished because she used the feathers inside them to help David and Frida scare away a violent Cerbusis.

It seemed like that didn't even matter anymore...

She had calmed down somewhat. Although thoughts beyond her comprehension were still bellowing inside her mind. She knew she had to find out what was going on, but she couldn't even bother to stand up. When she first arrived here, it seemed like another mystery for her to solve.

Boy how wrong she was.

Every single time Hilda looked at the T.V, she couldn't help but shake a little. She was tired of saying the word nothing, but that's all she could think about. Nothing mattered. Nothing at all.

Her meeting with Alfur? Simply fictional.

Her house destroyed? Purely for comedy.

Raven's horror for potentially letting the city down?

Just a simple _plot point._

Why couldn't she get her act together? She didn't know if she could at this point. How does one even comprehend their reality as fake? She sure didn't know. How could she? She never even held a candle to the idea. Her reality was hers, it was real, it was... everything.

It didn't really seem like it now.

She found herself petting her pillow, just like she usually did with Twig. Whenever she was stressed, he was always there for her. No matter the circumstance, he was always by her side. How she yearned to see him right now. He always calmed her down. His presence alone was enough to help her think things through. Now she learned he wasn't even real. The same went for everyone.

Alfur, the logical but still caring elf. Raven, the powerful but still genuine thunderbird. David and Frida, her closest and only friends.

Her own mother... who loved her and supported her no matter what.

_None of it... was real, _Hilda thought, _wasn't it?_

So many things happened between them, but now she learned none of it even mattered. They weren't even real in the first place...

They weren't even real...

_*Click*_

Hilda looked up quickly, not too surprised to find Catherine standing in the doorway. She changed just a little bit from her original appearance. Instead of her hair being in a messy short style, it was slightly combed and tied in a small bun now. And now instead of shorts, she was wearing long pajama pants.

Despite the change, Hilda could tell she was still uncomfortable. It made perfect sense considering what just transpired.

Hilda watched as Catherine carefully closed the door and began approaching.

"Hey... a-are you okay?" she asked.

Hilda didn't say a word.

"..."

"..."

"Stupid question got it," Catherine said quickly.

An awkward silence filled the room now, growing so much that it felt like Hilda could suffocate in it.

"Um... I made drinks," Catherine said, "I got... some coffee and tea for both of us..."

Hilda perked up at the mention of tea.

"What kind?" she asked.

Catherine slightly blushed and looked away.

"Um... peppermint..." she admitted, "I know you like it... so... yeah..."

Despite the kind attempt to give Hilda her favorite type of tea, it also served as a painful reminder that it was just another character quirk some animator made up for her somewhere.

"S-so... do you want some?" Catherine asked.

"..."

"..."

It still didn't change the fact that she enjoyed the tea type, however.

"Yeah..." Hilda said, "that'd be nice..."

Catherine handed Hilda her warm cup of tea before quietly taking a seat next to her. The bed fit both of them perfectly, giving them both the small window of time they needed to simply enjoy their drinks. Hilda quickly took a sip, feeling a great amount of pleasure from the cooling sensation that came from the delicate yet refreshing mist flavor. It was quite good, giving Hilda some relief of the situation.

She turned toward Catherine to see if she was enjoying her drink, only to find that she simply staring at her coffee cup. She seemed transfixed on the brown liquid swirling around in little whips, making no attempt to take even a sip. Now that she was more up close to her, she definitely could tell that she was a teenager. She probably was somewhere near sixteen or seventeen, maybe even eighteen. Her face looked so young though that it made her appear like she was twelve. Her nose was small and slightly curved over her thin lips. Her eyebrows were slightly arched and smooth, giving the section of her eyes and innocent and gentle appearance to them.

She actually looked kind of pretty if Hilda was being honest.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Are you okay?" Hilda blurted out.

Catherine looked at her, her eyes slightly widened.

"Am I okay?" she repeated, "f-forget about me... what about... you? Are you okay after... all that?"

She definitely wasn't, but she had to try her best to stay strong. Right? That's what the others would expect of her in this situation. She had to be strong... for them.

"I'm... I-I'm okay," Hilda forced out.

Catherine stared at her for a moment longer, worry present in her eyes. It was clear that she wasn't buying her words. But what else was she supposed to say? Sob about it? She already did that for at least a good half hour. Now she had to get her act together.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"O-okay..." Catherine said, "I... I know it must be weird to think about... but I understand if you don't want to talk about it..."

Hilda looked over to meet Catherine's nervous eyes.

"..."

"..."

"I don't even know how to talk about it," Hilda suddenly admitted, "it's just... a lot to take in..."

_"A lot" _was an understatement. It felt more like trying to comprehend how a black hole worked while being sucked inside one.

"I'm sure it is," Catherine said, "what do you think is causing this?"

Hilda personally had no idea. She had retained most of her memories from yesterday when she was still in Trolberg and remembered nothing particularly strange happening. The only noteworthy thing she remembered was that Frida was assigning roles for a class project they were together in. Other than that, nothing really interesting happened.

"I have no idea," Hilda said, "but there has to be an answer around here somewhere."

"I don't know..." Catherine said, "Nottingham is a pretty big place already... searching for clues is going to be tough."

Hilda stared at Catherine, a confused look clearly present on her face.

"I'm sorry... Nottingham?" Hilda said, "Is that where we are?"

Catherine began twiddling with her thumbs again, before realizing the question being asked.

"Oh... actually... no but also... yes," Catherine said, "we're actually in the suburbs of Hyson Green right now, but since Nottingham is only nine minutes away, it technically counts as part of it."

"Oh..." Hilda said, "that's... strange... it sounds familiar."

A little crack of information began to slip out into Hilda's mind, growing into something faint yet interesting.

"It does?" Catherine said, "can you remember anything else about it?"

"I'll try," Hilda remarked, even though she could already tell the task was impossible. She concentrated as hard as she could, focusing on the letters in great detail to see if any connection or correlation came to mind. However, nothing even popped into her head. It felt like someone was blocking it away, keeping it sealed with a key so it could never be opened. The feeling reminded Hilda of her first encounter with Raven, who also couldn't remember certain points of his life after Trevor hit him with that rock. She almost could understand how he felt in that situation.

"Does anything come to mind?" Catherine asked.

"Not really?" Hilda said, "I just think I heard the name of it before."

"Oh..." Catherine said, "that's a shame... although it makes sense."

"Makes sense... how exactly?" Hilda asked.

Catherine looked away for a moment, a hand cupping her chin as if she was thinking of something.

"Well... I'm pretty sure in your world, real-life cities don't exist," Catherine spoke, "It probably is renamed to something else as a reference, but since your world is fantasy and stuff, the show only focuses on originally made cities they came up with to show it off."

So even the entirety of Trolberg was conjured up in someone else's mind. She sadly wasn't too surprised, as she figured everything in her life was just fictional now. What did surprise her though was the second part of Catherine's sentence.

"Wait... what do you mean fantasy?" Hilda asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

Catherine quickly blinked, seeming a bit surprised before her expression returned to one of worry.

"Oh..." Catherine suddenly said, "I forgot... in your world all those creatures that roam around are a normal part of your life right?"

"Of course," Hilda said, "but... I'm guessing they don't really exist here..."

"Yeah, pretty much," Catherine said, "here, it would be global news if a giant or a troll were even captured on camera."

Even the creatures weren't even real...

To keep herself from having another mental breakdown, Hilda quickly drank a bit more of her tea. It was still warm and soothing, but it didn't really make her feel better as it once did before.

Catherine, on the other hand, was completely ignoring the cup of coffee she had near her. Hilda noticed that the steam emitting from it was growing less in strength.

"You should probably drink that before it gets cold," Hilda said.

Catherine looked at her for a bit before suddenly laughing to herself.

"Oh. Y-yeah... I guess I should..." she said.

Catherine took a quick sip of her coffee before making a strange expression.

"Ugh! Oh my fu-"

She quickly covered her mouth again, her eyes a bit wide before staring at Hilda.

"Are you okay?" Hilda said, "it sounded like you were saying something."

"Yeah... just pretend you didn't hear that..." Catherine said before taking another sip of her coffee.

After making yet another face from the second sip, Catherine began staring at the coffee again while Hilda continued to take sips of her tea. It felt weird being near her. Hilda couldn't exactly describe how, but it just felt off. Maybe because of the situation right now. Actually, that definitely must've been the reason. Why else would she be nervous? Certainly not because of the drinks. Maybe her parents hearing them?

Now that Hilda thought about it, where were this girl's parental figures? They hadn't come into the room even with the amount of noise that was made. Even if you put in the possibility that they were heavy sleepers it wouldn't make sense. They would've heard something when Catherine was shaking Hilda. So where were they? It bothered Hilda to the point where the question entered reality.

"Catherine..." Hilda asked, "are your parents home?"

Catherine didn't respond right away, seeming to stare off into the distance at something before blinking back.

"O-oh! Um... no, they're not," she admitted, "it's just... kind of me here."

No wonder the house felt so quiet. Not only was it really big, but it was also just her and Catherine there. No authority figure was there to keep them in check.

"Oh... are they... at work or something?" she asked.

"Yeah..." Catherine responded, "my mom and dad are like... some of the bosses in this really fancy company, so they're always doing things. Right now, they're both on a business trip overseas, so it's just me looking after the house."

Hilda watched as the girl quickly put down her coffee cup near her nightstand and began fiddling with her thumbs once again. Despite how shy she was, her parents still let her look after the house while they took care of their jobs. Hilda thought of the context for that sentence before saying her next few words.

"Your parents must trust you a lot to let you look after this house," Hilda said.

"They do..." she admitted.

No one said a word for a long time, causing Hilda to resume drinking her tea. It hadn't lost much of its heat, so it was still refreshing to drink. Still though, the lingering silence was taking a toll on her. If she didn't talk, she'd be forced to think instead. And if she thought-

"I'm honestly kind of glad they're not here right now," Catherine suddenly said.

Hilda turned her attention back to the teenager, who was still fiddling around with her hands.

"Why?" Hilda asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Well... it'd be kind of hard to explain how you appeared in our house," she said, "and it wouldn't be easy to convince them to not immediately kick you out because... you know?"

Hilda thought about that for a moment. Her learning the truth of her _animated_ life before being kicked out into the city of Nottingham.

"..."

"..."

"I'm... kind of glad your parents aren't here either," Hilda admitted.

"You and me both," Catherine said.

They both quietly laughed at that fact before Catherine suddenly yawned loudly.

"Man I'm tired..." she exclaimed, "so much for staying up with this coffee."

Hilda stared at the clock on Catherine's nightstand. A few dolls and plushies were blocking it, but she could see that it was currently 12:34. How long had she stayed in this room? Probably awhile if she was getting tired too. She usually was sleeping during this time. A yawned escaped Hilda's mouth. She was halfway done with her cup, but it felt as if she wouldn't even have enough time to finish it before she passed out. All that freaking out must've taken a toll on the girl.

"Are you tired as well?" Catherine asked.

"No..." Hilda lied, before quickly adding, "although, I guess I'm just a little sleepy..."

Hilda quickly shook herself awake before standing out of bed.

"But that doesn't matter," Hilda quickly added, "we need to find out what's going on and come up with some sort of plan to fix this."

"Sure... but we can do that tomorrow right?" Catherine asked, "I mean, wouldn't it be better if we came up with a plan when we're refreshed?"

Hilda had to admit, that made logical sense. But she was also itching to find out what was going on and who to blame for this strange predicament she found herself in.

But then she felt the bowels of sleep start to creep into her mind and knew right then and there that Catherine was right in her suggestion.

"Fine... but as soon as the sun rises, we're going to find out what's causing all this," Hilda said.

"Of course," Catherine said, "let's just get some rest first before we figure everything out..."

Catherine quickly got out of the bed and began collecting both Hilda's tea and her own coffee cup.

"I'll just clean these up in the sink and then get to bed myself..." she said, "although, I don't know where in the world I'm gonna sleep..."

"What?" Hilda suddenly said as she began getting into her own bed, "but this is your bedroom right? You can just sleep in your bed over there."

"I could... but do you want me sleeping in the same room as you?" she asked, "or do you want to sleep here by yourself? I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything after-"

"It's fine..." Hilda said, "this is your room, and we're both sleeping in our own beds anyway so it doesn't bother me."

Catherine stared at Hilda for a moment.

"Thanks... I guess I'll sleep in here then," she said.

"..."

"..."

"Hey, Hilda?" Catherine said.

"Yeah?" Hilda responded, looking over toward Catherine.

Catherine and her made eye contact, both staring at each other for a long time before Catherine responded.

"We're going to find out what's causing this..." she said, "I promise..."

Before Hilda could say anything back, Catherine quickly turned off the light and left the room.

As soon as she did, a bunch of little lights began to glow on the ceiling, lighting up the room slightly in cool blue colors. It was spread out throughout the entire ceiling, appearing almost like starts scattered throughout the sky. There were so many, that Hilda couldn't even count them all...

But her thoughts weren't fully directed toward the shining lights in the sky, for instead they were focused on Catherine's words.

_"We're going to find out what's causing this..."_

She sounded so confident when she said that, so much so that Hilda herself felt like it was true. They _were_ going to find out what this was, but first, they had to get through tonight. Once the sun rose, Hilda and Catherine would find a way to get her home. She had to for everyone...

Even if her reality was fake, she would get home...

She had to...

* * *

**3 Hours Later**

The next time Hilda woke up, the first thing she heard was the music.

It was soft, she could barely hear it at all, but it was there. Faint, quiet, almost distant. But still there. It stirred her awake in the darkroom, causing her to quickly sit up in her bed. Much to her dismay, she found herself still residing in Catherine's room. She still had hoped that the whole encounter was just a dream, but the blue lights glowing brightly on the ceiling proved her otherwise. She was still there, sitting alone. She figured she at least had Catherine by her side, but the little lights lit up the room enough to show Hilda that Catherine wasn't in her bed. In fact, she wasn't even in the room like she said she would be. This worried Hilda only slightly, but she trusted that she was somewhere nearby.

Instead of worrying about Catherine, she turned her attention to the open hallway door. From it, a little bit of light shone its way inside the crack. But that wasn't all. Hilda could also hear music coming from it. It sort of resembled a song in some way, but it was so quiet that she couldn't hear it fully. From what she could hear though, it sounded...

_pretty_...

Rubbing her eyes and putting her pillow down, Hilda hopped out of her bed and started to exit Catherine's bedroom. Even though the teen wasn't there to guide her throughout the house, Hilda was sure that she would be able to traverse the space just fine.

As she entered the hallway, the first thing she noticed was how overbearingly fancy it looked. A long carpet covered the floor, leading over the staircase down the hall. Paintings littered the walls depicting fruit and oddly shaped people. There were two large doors on the opposite end of the hall, leading to what Hilda assumed were the hall bathroom and Catherine's parent's room.

Once she stepped fully into the hallway, she began to hear the music piece clearer. It was still quiet as if someone was doing their best to make sure no one heard it, but it was slightly loud enough for Hilda to pick it up despite being so far from it. The music sounded like it was coming from... a piano...?

Closing the bedroom door behind her, Hilda made her way down the hall before coming upon the stairway. It was a grand staircase, curving it's way down to the main floor with a red carpet over the steps. From what Hilda could see, it led to the massive living room, where she could already see the couch and another massive T.V. There was a big chandelier hanging on the marble ceiling, lighting up both the first and part of the second floor. She assumed that was the light she saw through the cracks of the door.

The music was getting even louder now, and with each step, Hilda took down the stairs it became even more overpowering. She definitely could tell that it was coming from a piano now since it sounded so classical and peaceful. But now the only question remained of who it was playing it?

Hilda already could guess the person in question before she entered the living room.

The living room was currently empty, casting a somewhat dark glow since everything was turned off. But nearby was an archway door leading to some type of fancy study room. That's where the music was coming from. She felt herself being drawn to it...

As she entered the study room, she finally saw the cause of the noise.

Surrounded by bookcases and a few cutesy chairs was a grand piano. It barely fit in between the plants and books, but because of the position it was placed in, it gave a somewhat comforting feeling. It was quite polished but looked almost a few years old. It had a few scratches on the side, and a bit of wear and tear on the massive cover. It had a small styled orange and yellow cloth that was placed on the stand of the piano, where a tiny vase and flower resided right on top. The piano was producing a soft and peaceful sound, the keys being pushed together to create a wonderful harmony of sounds.

And to no surprise of Hilda, she found that the person creating these sounds was none other than Catherine.

She was humming a tune of a song, somewhat following along right with the piano while also keeping up her own pace. She had her eyes closed and because of the sound of the piano she hadn't heard Hilda enter the room, but she looked so deeply invested into the music that Hilda didn't disturb her until after she finished the last few chords.

"..."

"..."

"That was amazing..." Hilda said.

Catherine whirled around, her eyes widened so much that Hilda thought they would pop out of her head.

"Oh my gosh! W-what are you doing up!?" Catherine asked.

The sheer amount of desperation in her voice surprised Hilda, especially after watching her look so at peace.

"I-I heard your song..." Hilda said, "it sounded really good..."

"No! N-no it," Catherine started to say, "shoot I'm sorry."

She quickly closed the lid of the piano before standing up, much to the confusion of Hilda.

"What are you apologizing for?" Hilda said, "you were doing great."

"That doesn't matter..." Catherine said, "I woke you up and that's... that's not okay."

"It's fine Catherine," Hilda said, "you were just practicing."

Suddenly, Catherine turned around and stared right into Hilda's eyes. The look she gave her was so miserable, so completely different then anything Hilda's ever seen before from her that she almost took a step back from shock. However, Catherine quickly put her hands over her mouth and turned away.

"..."

"H-hey, are you okay?" Hilda asked.

"..."

"..."

"What am I going to do?" Catherine whispered.

She suddenly slid down onto the floor and began to fiddle with her hands once again.

"Dammit, what am I doing?" she said, "this is just... the worst..."

"..."

"Catherine... what's wrong?" Hilda asked, slowly sitting down next to her.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I guess it's just..." she continued, "well I know it's messed up, but I don't think I can do this..."

Hilda didn't want to admit it, but she could feel a slight tinge of dread beginning to fill her senses.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "you said that-"

"I know, and that's what makes it worse," Catherine said, "I said I could do this, but then I realized that this is... _reality_... and it sucks and... I don't know if I'm as strong as you..."

Everything went quiet after that, even the crickets chirping outside seemed to vanish. Everything was gone just so Hilda could hear those words repeating over and over in her head.

"..."

"..."

"Catherine... of course, you're strong," Hilda said.

"How?" she responded, "I'm just... some random teen. There are hundreds of more qualified people in the world that can help you more than me."

"That doesn't mean your not strong," Hilda said, "everyone just has a different way of showing it. Even me."

"But... you're so amazing," Catherine said, "everyone likes you, even everyone out here. You've made such an impact on so many people. How am I supposed to help you?"

"..."

"..."

"Catherine, I don't know this place as you do," Hilda said, "In this place, my world is a freaking T.V show, and Nottingham sounds completely foreign to me. I wouldn't know how to act or what to do. But you practically live here right?"

Slowly, Catherine nodded.

"Your knowledge of the place is already helpful," she said, "we just need to utilize it to find out what's going on."

"Really?" Catherine said.

"Of course," Hilda replied, "I know _we_ can do it."

"..."

"No one's ever said that to me before..." Catherine suddenly said, "not even my parents."

"..."

"..."

"Hey, Hilda..." Catherine said.

"Yeah?" Hilda replied.

"..."

"Thank you..." Catherine said, "for saying that... it's been a long time since someone has honestly..."

Hilda felt a small sense of happiness knowing that Catherine was feeling a little bit better.

"Hilda..." Catherine suddenly said, "I want you to know that just because your a cartoon, doesn't mean that you or your friends don't matter..."

Hilda found herself sitting up in shock from her comment.

"What?" she said.

"I know that learning your entire world is fake might make you think that, but you've made a huge influence on so many people. You... and your friends... they've helped this world a lot more then you think. I mean, people are literally writing stories about you online, that's how much you've affected them."

Hilda couldn't help but wonder what some of those stories were about. But she was actually more surprised that people out there wrote things about her. Did people really care for her that much?

"Your story is not for entertainment," she said, "it's... for change. Adapting to it, accepting it, learning from it. You taught me that..."

Change...

So much had changed in Hilda's life after her house was destroyed. And while it was hard at first, she grew to adapt to it. She met so many amazing people because of it. She had so many great and bad experiences because of it. All of it changed her...

She... slowly... started to get it... now.

"And personally, I think that your world is real," Catherine continued, "I mean, if you appeared here with all of your memories of Trolberg, then it must exist right? Or at least it's in an alternate reality."

"..."

"..."

"Yeah..." Hilda said, smiling, "just maybe..."

Even though her world was contained within a show, she somehow felt... a little bit better about it. Yes, it still worried her to know that her reality was made by someone else entirely, but she felt as if it didn't matter now. Knowing she made an impact, or at least an effect on people other then her friends somewhat excited her. She was making a difference just by going through her life the way she always does. People... learned from her life...

It made the raging storm inside her head calm a little...

"..."

"..."

"You know..." Catherine said, "Wyatt would freak out knowing you're here..."

"Wyatt?" Hilda repeated, "is he your friend?"

"Kind of..." Catherine said, "he's more like a strong partner I know. We each call favors for each other all the time."

"Really?" Hilda said, "what's he like?"

"Well... he's really into cartoons," Catherine said, "he currently likes a lot of them, but he likes yours the most because of the world and stuff. He's so entranced at it that he even has all the graphic novels so he can learn more about it."

"..."

"Wait.. graphic novels?" Hilda asked, "there are graphic novels of me?"

"Well yeah," Catherine confirmed, "before the show, you were originally in a bunch of graphic novels made by some guy. A new one's coming out soon actually."

"Some guy made me?" Hilda asked.

"Yeah," Catherine said, "I don't remember his name, but he's kind of the creator of you..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Please don't think too deeply into it," Catherine asked.

"I won't..." Hilda lied, "but it's weird to think I was in a book first before a show."

"I didn't know at first either," Catherine admitted, "thankfully Wyatt knows everything about him."

Suddenly Catherine went silent.

And then an idea began to form between the two girls.

"Wait... do you think that the creator of your world would also know a potential cause for how you got here?" Catherine asked.

"Maybe?" Hilda said, "but he probably would be more surprised that I actually exist-"

"WAIT!" Catherine screamed, "I just had a crazy thought. You know that new book coming out? I don't know what it's about, but that if that has something to do with you being here?"

"..."

"..."

Suddenly... thoughts began to grow. Ideas clicked into place. And finally...

A plan was formed.

* * *

**10 Minutes Later**

"Right there!" Hilda said, pointing toward the digital screen.

Sure enough, there were a ton of graphic novels of her. 6 to be exact. Each one increasing in popularity. Some of the publishers were different, but they all were written by the same guy.

"Luke Pearson..." Hilda said, "that's the author?"

"More like a cartoonist, but yeah," Catherine said, "Wyatt talks about him all the time... I don't know if he makes other books though."

"But if he's the author," Hilda said, "He might know something that's going on... or at least a thing in his books that could've caused this."

"True... but we would have to talk to him face to face," Catherine said, "I don't even know if he's in the same country as us..."

Catherine began scrolling through the man's twitter feed, trying to comb any digital clues on the man's whereabouts before landing upon a tweet that made both her's and Hilda's blood run cold.

"What does that say..." Hilda asked.

"It says..."_This Saturday_ 12-2pm _I'll be signing at PageFortyFive in Nottingham..." _Catherine read aloud, _"see you there if you can make it..."_

"..."

"That's literally today..." Catherine said, looking at the clock, "September 7th... to sign the Mountain King book..."

"You said... that's nine minutes away... right?" Hilda asked.

"Yep..." Catherine confirmed, "we'd just need a car."

"Can you drive?" Hilda asked.

"No, but Wyatt can..." she said.

_*Tink*_

The light suddenly flickered on and off before brightly shining in its original state. It happened so fast that it wouldn't have caused any attention if there wasn't also a foul smell present in the room. It was unlike anything either the girls have sensed, almost damping it in its disgusting vapors before vanishing from the air. Once it vanished though, it left behind a strange thing.

The computer screen, which once showed the twitter feed of Luke Pearson has suddenly glitched into a different tab. A tab that showed all of Hilda's friends together...

The two girls stared at the screen, both with differing levels of emotion raging through their bodies. But despite all that, Hilda had only one thought stuck in her mind.

_"I'm going to get back home guys. I promise..."_

* * *

**To Be Continued in Chapter 3: The Unlikely Team**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Unlikely Team

**Part 3 of 4**

* * *

The night had come and gone. The morning sun was shining. And the dark clouds blocked it's pitiful light away.

Hilda was in Catherine's dining room, looking out of the window toward the rest of Hyson Green. Most of the houses she saw looked exactly like Catherine's, except they were a bit older and attached to each other in a rigid formation. Bricks made up the surface of the wall, rising past wood ridden windows to curved roofs and chimneys on the top. It reminded Hilda faintly of her old neighborhood, all the houses attached to another batch of houses.

Another thing that reminded Hilda of home was Catherine's house. More specifically the dining-room she found herself in. Despite the size of the house, the area was actually quite small and quaint, with furniture that reminded Hilda of her old cottage. Books were cluttered, plates were stacked. The floor under Hilda was layered with wood, with a soft-looking carpet placed right under the table. The table itself was filled with cookbooks and plants, taking up the entire space except for the section that Hilda was in. Paintings scattered the floor and were hung on the walls. The walls themselves displayed hundreds of photos and paintings of Catherine's family, with each framed in astonishing wood carvings. Not to mention, the dining room was connected to an equally cluttered kitchen where Catherine was preparing their breakfast. Combine this with the dim lighting in the room, and Hilda found herself mostly at peace sitting there watching particles of dust fly by.

She wondered if Catherine did this in her spare time when her parents weren't home. It must've been peaceful, especially with no noise to interrupt her thoughts...

Speaking of Catherine, she was in the kitchen, debating over four boxes of cereal to choose from. After awaking from their slumber, Catherine had offered to make something for her and Hilda to eat that morning. The problem was though that there wasn't much to actually cook for the poor girls, so Catherine opted instead to whip up some cereal instead. She finally decided on some frosted flakes before pouring a bowl for both of them.

"I don't know if you actually like this... but it's kind of good so... yeah..." Catherine said after handing the bowl to Hilda.

Hilda quickly nodded in thanks and took a quick bite. The flavor was _immensely_ satisfying...

Catherine placed herself on the opposite side of the table and instantly began twiddling with her fingers.

"..."

"..."

"Is... is it good?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah..." Hilda replied, "...it's very sugary."

"Oh... good..." Catherine said, "that's... good."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So... we should probably discuss how we're going to do this," Catherine said, "if you're okay with it at least..."

Hilda quickly swallowed her current bite of cereal before nodding.

"Okay... so we're going to try and get to that bookstore for that signing," Catherine repeated, "it's located downtown, so by my calculations, it would take us eight to nine minutes to get there by car. But we'd have to ask someone to drive us since I kind of suck as a driver."

"Oh yeah," Hilda said, "you mentioned you didn't get your driver's license to me last night... what as all that about?"

"..."

"..."

"Uh... let's just say my skills on parallel parking weren't too sharp according to the instructor..." Catherine admitted.

Hilda understood where Catherine was coming from, especially ever since she moved to the big city. Her mother was always good at driving, but her parking skills weren't really adequate with the environment they were in. Tons of cars, tight spaces. Nothing like the wide-open valleys of the wilderness.

"It's fine," Hilda said, "we can just walk there."

"Actually..." Catherine started, "I don't think we should since... well..."

Catherine quickly pointed outside the window, where Hilda saw random citizens strolling about. There weren't too many, but even then the possibility of being seen was high.

"I guess that's a no on walking then..." Hilda said.

"A definite no," Catherine answered, "it just seems like everything is stacking against us right now..."

The girls were silent for a moment, contemplating any way to get to their supposed destination. However, almost nothing came to mind.

"Wait... you said you had a friend who can drive..." Hilda suddenly said.

Catherine looked up for a moment, a blush coming across her face.

"You mean Wyatt right? I mean... well-"

"So let's call him and explain what's going on," Hilda interrupted, "if he's a fan of... cartoons... then he'll want to help us."

"You're right, but you don't really know Wyatt..." Catherine admitted, "he might tell people about you... being here in the real world..."

"I'm completely fine with that," Hilda said, "as long as we can somehow fix this soon with his help, who cares if people know I'm here?"

"I know, but... people might try and stop us because... you're here..." Catherine said, "and besides, Wyatt might not even help us... like, he likes cartoons, but as a person... he's just... we're... with him it's complicated..."

"Complicated how?" Hilda asked.

Catherine's face went red.

"I don't know..." Catherine stated, "it's like... that friend you have... but you're not classified as friends cause you just... it's just we work together on things, but we don't hang out. It's more of a business-related friendship. You know...?"

Hilda shook her head.

"Okay, think of it as... a job with a coworker," Catherine said, "or a class project where you're paired with someone you don't know. You work together with that person on a specific thing, but you're not close with them in any way... you're just working temporarily on one thing. That's all it really is with us. I just work with him more then others because... he's just... well he's really good at doing things nobody else wants to do. He has that reputation... in town..."

"..."

"..."

"So that's why we only call each other for favors..." Catherine quickly added, "because... that's just how he is with other people..."

"But this is a favor... he'd be helping us," Hilda countered.

"But he'd want something," Catherine said, "he keeps track of who has to help who. Last week he helped me with my stupid science project by getting me some stuff and recording some things, so he'll want something in return if I call him for help _again_..."

If what Catherine said was true, then Wyatt would want payment for his efforts. But what would he want that would somehow upset the knowledge of his previous work?

"..."

"..."

"You'd think he'd help if it was involving me?" Hilda said.

"...yeah... probably..." Catherine admitted.

"Put him on the phone..." Hilda said, "I think I know how to get through to him."

* * *

**2 Minutes Later**

The girls were dressed up and currently waiting in Catherine's room, where the phone calls to Catherine's "partner" were being made. It was 11:30 pm, a full half-hour before the book signing started.

And Wyatt had still not picked up.

"You've got to be kidding me," Catherine said after the tenth ring, "he's not answering his phone."

Hilda felt a trickle of delicious fear run through her after she hung up once more.

"Is there any other way to contact him?" Hilda asked.

"No..." Catherine admitted, "he has no other form of communication besides his number..."

Hilda thought for a moment of the implications of such a thing. If Wyatt didn't answer, they couldn't get to that bookstore to meet the author. A car was crucial to the plan since without one she would be noticed by everyone. That would make the trip even harder to handle, and possibly lead to them not making it to the signing. If they didn't make it, they wouldn't be able to talk to the cartoonist. And that could lead to Hilda never being able to get home.

_*Tink*_

The lights flickered, and Hilda felt herself wanting to throw up.

"Do you have any other friends who can drive?" she asked.

"Only Carole, but she's on vacation right now," Catherine said, "somewhere in the U.S or something."

Silence between the two girls. A few minutes of scary silence as Catherine made the ninth call. A few minutes of nothing but ringing as they waited for someone to answer.

"..."

"..."

_"Cath?"_ a voice crackled, _"why the hell are you blowing up my phone?"_

The girls were in stunned silence hearing Wyatt's voice, Hilda especially since he sounded so much older than she originally thought. It might've been the phone distorting his voice, but it was deep, with a tinge of some sort of accent Hilda didn't recognize.

"W-Wyatt!" Catherine said, "oh my goodness finally, why the heck weren't you answering any of my calls you jerk?"

_"Cause I was getting ready for today..." _he responded casually, _"don't have to make a big deal about it."_

"It is a big deal Wyatt," Catherine said, "it's a PRETTY big freaking deal right now."

_"Jesus you don't have to sound it out like that,"_ he said, _"it makes it actually sound like bad news..."_

"That's cause it is Wyatt," Catherine said, "we need your help.

_"We?"_ Wyatt repeated, _"I'm sorry, but who the fu-"_

"LANGUAGE!" Catherine shouted before Wyatt could finish.

Catherine looked nervously at Hilda before angrily turning back at the phone.

"Please don't... say those words... like you usually do..." Catherine said, "I have someone with me..."

_"I don't care if someone is there with you,"_ Wyatt said, _"what I care about is why you're calling me after I already helped you last week with that stupid project. Didn't we agree that after that you wouldn't call me unless I needed help?"_

"Yeah I did... but this is-"

_"_She already said it clearly didn't she?" Hilda suddenly chimed in, "we just need your help."

_"..."_

"..."

_"Catherine... who the hell was that?" _Wyatt cautiously asked, _"it sounded like-"_

Before Wyatt could finish, Hilda quickly took the phone.

"Listen carefully, my name is Hilda," she started, "I come from Trolberg and am currently stuck within your world. I have no idea how I got here and my only chance to get back home is to talk with this guy who created me. The only way we can do that is if I can get to PageFortyFive within the next two hours. We can't go out because people will see me and realize who I am, so we need you to drive us there so we can talk to the guy who made me and find out what's causing this. Did you get all that?"

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

"_What the fu-"_

Wyatt quickly cut himself off before he could finish his sentence.

_"What the heck did I just hear?" _Wyatt asked, _"are you like playing a recording of Bella Ramsey or something?"_

A hint of confusion quickly struck Hilda, which caused her to turn back toward Catherine.

"Who's that?" Hilda asked.

"That's... your voice actor..." Catherine said, "she voiced you and some HBO character who died."

Hilda didn't want to focus on the fact that even her own voice wasn't hers and instead focus on Wyatt, who was currently still on the line.

"Well... no. There is no Bella Ramsey here," Hilda exclaimed, "it's just me Hilda..."

_"..."_

_"..."_

"You know... that character from that show you like so much?" Hilda said.

"..."

"_Okay... Cath," _Wyatt said, _"I don't know how you were able to mix Bella's voice like that, but it's pretty impressive. Like, you should actually consider being an audio mixer"_

"That's not me," Catherine chimed in, "it's actually Hilda talking right now."

_"Okay... now you're just sounding delusional," _he groaned, _"Hilda is... like a cartoon character Cath. She doesn't actually exist."_

"No, she's telling the truth," Hilda said, _"_it's actually me, Hilda herself, speaking right now."

_"Am I just supposed to assume you somehow appeared out of thin air in Catherine's bedroom or something?" _Wyatt asked.

"..."

"Yes..." Catherine and Hilda said at the same time.

"..."

_"Jeez, and they say I'm crazy..." _Wyatt said.

"Please... we just need your help this one time Wyatt!" Catherine yelled, sounding a bit desperate over the phone.

_"How am I supposed to know you're not lying?"_ Wyatt asked,_ "I can't even see if "Hilda" is really there or not."_

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Hilda as Catherine took the phone.

"Oh my god Wyatt you're so difficult," Catherine said, "we need your-"

"Catherine take a picture of me," Hilda said.

Catherine spun toward Hilda, clearly stunned at her request.

"W-what? But Hilda, he'll-"

"Just trust me, Catherine..." Hilda said, "I know what I'm doing..."

There was a huge range of emotions present on Catherine's face. From confusion, anger, fear. However, and rather reluctantly, she pulled the phone back to her ear and spoke.

"Okay... _Wyatt_... give me a moment..." she said.

_"I'll wait... not like I'm going anywhere..."_ he said.

Catherine rolled her eyes as she positioned her phone and took a quick picture of Hilda. Despite her remaining in her cartoon-like form, it probably would've been impossible for anyone to recognize her if she wasn't wearing her original outfit. Thankfully, and also quite strangely for her, all her original clothes came with her in the dimension. She found them hanging loosely at the end of her bed, kept nice and neat like usual. She was wearing the entire outfit now as Catherine took the picture. Yellow scarf, red sweater, blue skirt. She even had her little beret present on her head, just like she usually did.

Before Catherine could send the picture, Hilda grabbed the phone.

"Wait... take one more of you pinching my arm..." Hilda said.

"What... why? That'll hurt you..." she said.

"Obviously don't do it so hard where it will bruise," Hilda said, "just enough so Wyatt can see that it's flesh..."

While quite reluctant to do the deed, Catherine slightly pinched Hilda's arm and took a picture of it. With both photos in storage, she quickly sent them to Wyatt.

"There, hope you're happy..." Catherine muttered.

A bit of time passed where no sound came out of Wyatt's end. It was completely silent, almost as if he hung up. But Hilda could tell he was still there. She could hear him quietly breathing. But soon even that itself stopped. Almost as if he lost his breath for a moment.

"Well?" Catherine said.

"..."

"..."

_"Wait... is this real?" _he finally said.

Suddenly, Catherine blew up.

"YES IT IS!" she screamed, "THAT'S WHAT WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO SAY!"

"..."

_"Hold up, this is actually real?" _he said, _"this is actually... real...?"_

"Yes..." Hilda said, "that's me you're seeing right now. I hope it proves to you we're not bluffing."

_"Proves...?" _Wyatt said.

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

"Of..._ oh my gosh... Cath you... you lucky son of a gun!"_

Through the phone speaker, Hilda could hear Wyatt rushing up out of his seat.

_"Holy crap! You actually! THIS IS ACTUALLY! Like... whoa. I'm just. This isn't..."_

A long batch of words that followed were random exiting screaming and some muffled and mixed up works of happiness. Hilda couldn't understand any of it, but the effect was clear enough. He had been convinced, and that was all that mattered.

_"THIS IS SO COOL! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE DREAMED OF SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING!?" he yelled._

"Yeah, you tell me every single day..." Catherine said, "can you please help us now?"

_"Oh my gosh... imagine if..." _he continued, completely ignoring Catherine's question,_ "I have so many questions. Like Hilda... how old are you? Or, what happened to your father? OH WAIT! Ha__ve any of the fanfic stories here happened in your world?"_

"..."

"..."

"Um... what?" Hilda asked.

_"Like the made-up stories people write up online about you?" _he said.

Hilda looked over at Catherine with confused eyes.

"I think the answer is no Wyatt," Catherine said.

_"Oh... well I guess that's whatever,"_ he said, _"um, Oh! Hilda, are any of your friends there? Did they show up to?! It'd be awesome if Raven was there! Oh! Or Alfur to! Maybe David and Frida? They're all just so cool! I'm not sure who I'd want to meet more!"_

Suddenly, Hilda felt a stab of pain rush through her heart at the single mention of her _friends_. It was so unbearable that she had to quickly give the phone to Catherine and step aside for a second.

"Uh... no Wyatt," Catherine said, "it's just Hilda here. None of the others came with her."

Hilda felt herself cringe at Catherine's line.

While what she said was true, it was only half right. Sure, none of them were there with her, but it wasn't because of their own choice. If given the option, they probably _would've_ come with her. But whatever this paranormal event was didn't even give them the _choice_ to follow her. They probably didn't even know Hilda herself was gone until it was too late. Now she was here, all alone with just Catherine as a source for comfort for this awful tragedy.

She looked around the room where only Catherine stood, staring at Hilda with saddened eyes. Other than her and the stuffed animals that lined the bed, it was mostly empty. In times like these, there usually would be so many more people by her side. Alfur and Twig. David and Frida. Even Raven if he was in the area. But none of them were there with her now. Whatever did this somehow forced them apart in some way, without any of their knowledge. How that was even possible was beyond Hilda, but knowing that meant now she couldn't let it end like this. Or rather she wouldn't. She had to get back to her friends no matter what now...

"..."

"..."

_"Oh... well that sucks..."_ Wyatt said, _"so... she's stuck here all by herself?"_

"Yeah, but we're trying to get her back," Catherine repeated, "we just need your help to do it."

"..."

_"So wait... you want me to help you?" _Wyatt suddenly asked.

"Of course we do," Catherine said, "you're the only other person we're trusting right now to help Hilda get home. We need to do this for her."

Hilda turned toward Catherine again after she said that, who was still standing there awkwardly waiting for Wyatt to respond. Despite the situation she was in, she was thankful she had her. At least she had one person she could trust to help her get home, and now maybe even another if Wyatt decided to come with them. As long as there were other people by her side, she felt like she could get through this and get to her friends again.

"..."

"..."

_"I just... don't know..." _Wyatt said, _"because... I didn't think...""_

Catherine breathed in deeply.

"Wyatt... please..." she asked.

"..."

"..."

"Look we just need your help for one day," Hilda said, "then I promise we won't bother you again. I just need you to help us get to the signing."

"..."

"..."

"_...ok..._" Wyatt said, _"I'll help..."_

Both of the girls sighed in relief.

"Thank you..." Catherine said, "so you'll be here soon?"

_"Sure I can get there_ in_ under thirty minutes?" _he said, _"you said you needed to get to downtown?"_

"Yeah, to the bookstore," Catherine said, "you know it right?"

_"Yeah, I was going to go there with Veronica later," _he said, _"but... I guess I can reschedule or something."_

Both of the girls looked at each other with confused eyes.

"I'm sorry... who's Veronica?" Hilda asked.

_"My girlfriend," _she said, _"we're gonna hang, but I guess I can help you guys out for now. I'll just tell her will hang out another day."_

"Oh my goodness!" Catherine cried, "Wyatt, thank you so much, I promise I'll somehow repay this favor somehow."

_"No worries, I just need a rebuff on the situation right now so I'm caught up,"_ Wyatt said.

"..."

"..."

"Hilda just explained everything to you," Catherine said.

_"Well, I thought you were pulling my leg on the whole Hilda thing, so I wasn't listening," _Wyatt admitted.

"..."

So after a long back and forth between Catherine and Wyatt, everyone was soon quickly brought up to speed with the plan and the times were finally set.

"So you get everything now right?" Catherine asked.

"..."

_"...yeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh..."_

"Wyatt..." Catherine sighed.

A small laugh could be heard on the other end after she said that.

_"Cath I'm just messing with you," _he said, "_all I got to do is be your carpool to that bookstore right?"_

"Exactly, we need to get there as soon as possible," Hilda said, "between 12 and-"

"_Hilda... don't worry about not getting there on time," _Wyatt said, _"you're talking to a guy who has seven tickets for speeding in a school zone. I think I can handle getting you guys downtown..."_

"..."

"..."

"Right... so you can do that?" Hilda asked.

_"Sure thing," _he said, _"I'll be there in a jiffy."_

"Good, but just make sure you don't bring anybody," Catherine inquired, "like I said-"

"_Yeah I get it this is just between the three of us," _he said casually, _"I think I heard you the first time."_

*_click*_

"..."

"Well... at least he's coming..." Hilda said, an optimistic presence clear in her voice.

Even with that though, Catherine flopped onto bed with a pillow over her head.

"God I hope this doesn't turn out bad..." she said, "he said he thinks he heard us. He could ruin everything..."

Hilda slowly took a seat beside her and began patting her sympathetically.

"It's going to be fine..." she said, "I mean.. he seems okay enough. How bad can it get?"

The child had no clue...

* * *

**20 Minutes Later**

A lot of things happened once Catherine opened the door.

First, once Hilda appeared she finally got a good look at the unknown figure known as Wyatt, who seemed to tower over Hilda like a literal mountain in the doorway. His clothing choice depicted him in a strange mix of a somewhat casual but lazy persona. He wore circular glasses and a knitted red beanie over his wild brown hair. A loose red jacket was put on to cover up the top of his body that made him appear even bigger than he already was. It was unzipped and revealed a t-shirt with a wolf of some kind imprinted on it. The final thing the adventurer noticed about his clothing was the loose jeans that were tucked into his big brown boots, secured with a belt almost concealed with his jacket. The most notable feature on the teen though was his huge wild beard, which made him appear more like an adult then an eighteen-year-old like Catherine was saying.

His posture was relaxed and casual, almost as if he was completely calm in a situation that made Catherine and Hilda's sanity drop to the lowest brinks of the dark world.

This fact was clearly present in both Hilda and Catherine after Wyatt showed up to the front door with a completely unknown stranger by his side.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hey, guys..." Wyatt said.

"..."

"...hey..." Hilda replied, "um... who's that?"

"This is my date," he answered, "Catherine and Hilda, meet Veronica."

The girl, or... Veronica didn't move or introduce herself at all as she continued staring at Hilda with intense light grey eyes. The girl in question was almost the same height as Wyatt, although she looked more like a thin tree compared to him. Her stance and posture were rigid in design, detailing an unnatural position compared to the current trio. She wore a short leather jacket, which was unzipped to reveal a plain-looking t-shirt under it. She had on some shorts, which were covered up by her ungodly long high heel boots that dramatically spiked at the end. The heels themselves were so thin that Hilda ended up wondering more how the girl could walk in them then her actual presence in the area.

Wyatt himself didn't seem to be bothered by this thankfully, as he was instead crouched down slightly to meet Hilda's eye level. That's how tall the fool was.

"So you _are_ real," he said, scanning Hilda carefully "the photo wasn't fake..."

He quickly touched Hilda's scarf and rubbed it in between his fingers, as if he was trying to prove and already obvious fact.

"...How is this even possible?" he said, "it's almost like you hopped right out of a T.V. screen."

"Well... we don't exactly know..." Hilda admitted, "that's why we're going to that... author guy to find out if he knows anything."

"You're going to talk to Luke Pearson?" Wyatt said, "do you really think he knows anything?"

"I think so," Hilda said, "We think the creator of the series would know a thing or to that maybe we don't about in the main cannon of the show."

"..."

"Uh... wait... so you know you're in a cartoon?" Wyatt quickly asked, "did it like... ruin your perspective of reality?"

"Kind of, but Catherine helped me through it last night," Hilda admitted, "we're trying... to reverse whatever happened to me."

"Interesting," Veronica said. "This girl somehow helped you through something so hauntingly retched?"

"What's... that supposed to mean?" Catherine asked slowly.

"I think you know exactly what it means," Veronica said.

"..."

"Whatever," Catherine said, "just... let's _forget_ it... we need to get to the downtown as fast as possible..."

Suddenly, Wyatt chuckled to himself and began smiling brightly.

"I'm so glad you mentioned that," he said, "because I have a small surprise for you two."

Despite the cheerful tone in his voice, dread started to appear within Catherine's face.

"Please... no surprises," she begged, "we just need you to drive us to-"

Catherine's words were cut off sharply as she stared beyond past Wyatt and Veronica. Hilda followed along with her gaze and was left in a similar state of shock. The driveway to Catherine's house was completely empty. No car, no truck, not even a motorbike. Just nothing...

"_Wyatt_," Catherine said in a deadly tone, "where is the car?"

"That's the surprise," he explained, "it's down the street, it'll just take one second for me to get it."

Before Catherine or Hilda could say anything, the big man had taken off down the street, vanishing quickly as he passed the house's area.

"What is he doing?" Catherine said, "that idiot is going to make us late..."

Neither Veronica or Hilda responded to her comment. Instead, the girls simply waited as the sound of tires rolling across cement came closer and closer to the house...

Until finally... they saw it.

An Ugly.

Bright green.

Pickup Truck.

Pulled right up onto the driveway with a still beaming Wyatt still inside the driver's seat. Almost everyone was speechless at the sight of it. Not in any sort of awe, but in more like a stunned silence at what they were witnessing. The colors were a mix of bright green a platinum lime, which was enough to turn the truck into what looked like a vomit pile. The colors were so repulsively gross that even the sun's rays didn't want to touch it, quickly bouncing away from the abomination and shining into everyone's eyes. This was both a blessing and a curse, for while they're eyes were closed from the horrible sight, everyone else in the neighborhood could see what it was as well, causing some people to exit their homes.

"What do you think!" Wyatt yelled.

Everyone was quiet, even Hilda herself had nothing to say.

Everyone except Catherine that was.

"Wyatt, what the hell is that?" she asked.

"This amazing beaut over here is Betty!" Wyatt said, "she's the most loyal, sturdy, and trusty steed on Earth!"

Hilda scanned the truck again, noticing that the bumper of it was about to slide clean off along with some of the doors. Upon seeing that, she wondered if Wyatt's choice of words to describe the vehicle were really genuine or not.

"Come on guys check her out!" he yelled, "she's got deluxe painting! First-class seats! There's even a little mini-fridge I added back here for all our snacks! And it was all a hundred bucks! You gotta admit that's a steal! I mean look! I even added a custom train horn!"

And then he har-

**_"BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"_**

"JESUS WYATT WHAT THE FU-"

**_"BBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"_**

"WYATT STOP! TURN THAT OFF!"

**_"BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"_**

"FREAKING STOP WYATT!"

"Okay! Okay! Jeez. Sorry..."

"..."

"..."

Finally, claws were lowered. Eyes opened again. Pain went away. The sound was so disgusting that it questioned-

"Are you okay?" Hilda said.

_*Tink*_

Suddenly, all returned to focus. Hilda had now lowered her hands, which earlier were pressing tightly against her ears to block the noise. It was somehow painfully still ringing in her head, like the aftermath of a bomb going off. Thankfully, it was over, and now Hilda could finally observe her surroundings. The first she noticed was that Catherine was dragging Wyatt out of the car, making sure his hand was in no proximity to that murder weapon called a "wheel". The second thing she saw was Veronica, who was pressed against the floor, her hands slamming against her ears to block the noise. Hilda had started to help her up when she noticed everything else.

Everyone in the neighborhood now was outside their houses, all staring at them. The first thing they looked at was the car, then at Wyatt and Catherine, which then led over to Veronica...

And then to Hilda herself.

She quickly started to hide her face with her scarf and helped Veronica inside the house. There, both of the girls finally recovered.

Hilda had to admit, this simple task of getting to that bookstore was getting more troublesome then she thought. Especially in part thanks to Wyatt. She had only known him for a second, and yet he was already throwing really _interesting_ surprises in their way.

Finally, both Wyatt and Catherine made their way inside the house. Wyatt looked a bit dazed and amused at what just happened.

Catherine's face, on the other hand, was enough to turn that amusement into horror.

"Wyatt..." Catherine said through gritted teeth, "can we talk in _private_... please?"

"But... don't we have to get to the-"

"Oh... we'll get there," she cut off, "I just need to talk to _you_... for a few... _seconds_..."

The way she said the sentence made it seem like she was about to kill him secretly then actually speak with him. But even then no one stopped her as she began dragging Wyatt into the house, not even Wyatt himself. They both quickly vanished. leaving just Hilda and Veronica alone.

Hilda looked at the strange girl, unsure of what to say to the new entity beside her. She had pretty much stayed tight-lipped, and now her "date" had caused her to drop on the floor from pain. She weirdly wondered if she was okay...

"..."

"So... are you okay?" Hilda asked.

Innocent enough question, it was honestly adorable that she attempted it.

"Just swell." she said.

"..."

"..."

"That was... something that happened," Hilda said.

"Yeah. It _was_." Veronica growled.

Hilda looked away for a split second after hearing that. Maybe the awkwardness was finally getting to her.

"..."

"..."

"Does he do stuff like that often?" Hilda asked.

"Doesn't matter." Veronica said. "I'm gonna kill him pretty soon after what he just pulled."

"...Oh..." Hilda said.

More heavy silence. More staring. More wondering what to say. Hilda couldn't even begin to understand what to say.

"You mind if I ask you a question little girl?" Veronica said.

Hilda barely got to respond before Veronica continued.

"How are you transitioning to the real world?" she asked.

"Transitioning?" the child repeated.

"You know what I mean." she said. "You're not from here. So what's it like? How do you feel about your situation?"

"Oh..." Hilda said, scratching the back of her head, "well... it's been going... kind of shaky if I'm being honest... but-"

"So what does that feel like?" Veronica cut off. "Are you angry? Enraged?"

"No... not really," Hilda answered.

"Wow. That's a surprise." Veronica stated. "I would be pretty mad if I was stuck here forever."

"..."

"..."

"No... I'm not stuck here forever though," Hilda continued, "this plan Catherine and I put up might bring me back."

"What plan though?" Veronica quickly said. "What Wyatt told me seemed like a desperate jump to an answer you two haven't found yet. You think just talking to a creator of something will get you back home?"

"He might not be able to get me back home, but we think he may know at least the cause for what's happening. Then we can find out how to fix it."

"Interesting. So this whole plan must be hell for you." Veronica cut off. "Understandable considering you're choices."

A heavy pause was present after the words were spoken.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the child asked.

Veronica looked up before smiling a bit.

"You know what I mean." she said. "The choices you have here to get back home. You must be very limited considering you don't have your usual sidekicks with you."

"My friends are _not_ my sidekicks," the child said sternly.

"Isn't that what all cartoon show characters are though?" Veronica asked. "Aren't they just sidekicks to the main character?"

The adventurer could feel a tinge of anger growing in her heart.

"I don't know what cartoons you've been watching," she continued, "but that has never applied to my friends. We're never dependent on one another, we always help each other out, no matter what."

"There's no shame in seeing a little use in your friends." Veronica said. "And looking at your cartoon show you sure have a lot of them. Elves. Scouts. Gods. Think of all the stuff you could do."

The child kept her mouth closed tight.

"I'm just looking at this all in a logical perspective you know?" Veronica said. "I mean. What worth really is someone if they're not useful for something? Like. Look at Catherine and Wyatt. Both are pretty much useless. You're only cooperating with them on a temporary bases. If you had better choices. Maybe you'd be home by now."

"..."

"..."

"I'm going to go find Catherine and Wyatt," Hilda said quickly, retreating inside the house.

The girl didn't even give a chance for Veronica to respond to her comment as she instantly started speed walking down the hall into the living room. She needed to get away from that girl for a moment, especially after what she just said. She had just gotten somewhat used to knowing she was a cartoon, and now all the emotions of that previous night were barreling back to her.

They needed to get to that book sign up as fast as possible now.

Hilda began to search the entire house for them. She started with the kitchen, then the dining room. Both were still cluttered from the initial start of the day. Then she made her way to the study. She didn't find Catherine playing any sort of piano or Wyatt reading any sort of book. Then she made her way upstairs. She heard no one talking in the slightest.

_Where could they have gone? _Hilda thought.

She made her way downstairs and instantly saw that Veronica had already made herself at home, kicking back her boots and sitting on the sofa reading an adventure book. It was going great so far, as it featured such a horrific end for the heroes of the story. Hilda couldn't help but roll her eyes however as she continued searching for the two other teens.

She finally found them in the backyard

Hilda could see that Catherine was doing most of the talking while Wyatt stood there looking completely annoyed. The conversation wasn't really all that private like Hilda thought it would be, as Catherine found herself screaming more then she was forming complete sentences. Hilda swore she could see fangs appearing in Catherine's mouth as she began chewing Wyatt out.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMON SENSE?!" Catherine screamed, "LIKE ANY AT ALL?! ARE YOU EVEN TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY?!"

"Of course I am," Wyatt responded, "I brought the truck like you asked and-"

"Truck?" Catherine repeated, "YOU CALL THAT A TRUCK! IT'S NOT EVEN A CAR! WYATT!"

"Of course it is!" he said, "I paid a great price for it. Good mileage. Excellent seating. All for a hundred bucks. Like, Catherine, that's a steal!"

"Oh my goodness... first Veronica and now the car? What else are you going to pull?"

"Cath, listen to me, I wouldn't have brought Veronica over if I didn't know for sure she would keep this a secret."

"Oh, and let me guess," Catherine said, "we're just supposed to assume that she'll stay quiet after all this?!"

"She doesn't know Hilda at all," Wyatt finally said, "she doesn't even have Netflix, and she's rarely watched a cartoon in her life."

Hilda knew that wasn't the case, Veronica knew very well who she was. The question was how though if she never saw the cartoon?

"THE GRAPHIC NOVELS WYATT!" Catherine suddenly yelled, "I bet you showed her the novels haven't you?"

That's where Hilda got her answer.

"..."

"..."

"Okay... so I did show her the books," Wyatt admitted, "but she has no interest in them at all I swear."

"Wyatt, don't you get it? She might tell someone about this!"

"And whose going to believe her? It's not like anyone else knows about this. They would need the pho-"

Suddenly, Wyatt shut his mouth.

"What? What would they need?" Catherine asked.

Hilda watched as sweat appeared on Wyatt's forehead.

"..."

"Wyatt... please tell me you didn't send her the photos..."

"..."

"..."

"Wyatt... just... why?" Catherine asked.

"I wasn't thinking at the time," he said, "I thought you'd be okay with it."

"I'D BE OKAY WITH IT?" she suddenly screamed, "IF I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO POST THEM ON A DISCORD SERVER, WHY WOULD YOU THINK IT'D OKAY TO SEND THEM ANYWHERE ELSE!"

"You never said anything about a discord server!" Wyatt pointed out, "and she's my date Cath, I thought she'd like it! That's what couple do! Although I guess you wouldn't know."

"Oh my goodness Wyatt, you idiot, of ALL the things to send, WHY WOULD YOU SEND THE PHOTOS!"

"It's JUST a photo Cath, there's no need to throw a fit over it!" Wyatt countered, "she thought it was adorable!"

"THAT PHOTO CONTAINS REVOLUTIONARY INFORMATION THAT CAN CAUSE A WHIRLWIND OF PEOPLE TARGETING US!"

"God, you're so stupid!" Wyatt said, looking away in disgust.

"I'm stupid?" Catherine repeated, "you're the idiot who's going to compromise everything just so-"

"You actually think people would believe this?" he interrupted, "people would assume it's fake or something. You're so _fucking_ paranoid Cath."

Hilda's eyes widened at the new word she was hearing.

_*Tink*_

"I'd rather be paranoid then stupid like you!" Catherine refuted, "you paint yourself in this chill persona in front of everyone like you're the cool kid in school or something. But I know what you're really like. I've known ever since we were kids Wyatt."

"What do you know!? I literally pulled time out of my day to help you, and you're throwing a shit fit over it!"

"You wouldn't have even lifted a finger if you didn't know Hilda was actually here. At least I'm trying to help her! What have you done so far except make everything harder for us?!"

"I'm not though!"

"Of course you are! You make it so difficult to trust you, Wyatt! The truck. Veronica! And that stupid horn?! This is why no one hangs out with you!"

"You know what? Scre-!"

"WILL YOU TWO PLEASE STOP FIGHTING!" Hilda screamed.

A heavy weight of silence filled the air, almost suffocating the teens now from the adventurer's outburst.

"Both of you stop," Hilda said, "bickering like this won't help our situation any better."

"Are you serious?" Catherine said, "did you see what he just-"

"Aren't you guys supposed to be partners?" Hilda asked, "why are you fighting like this? Don't you work together all the time? Even on such trivial things? That's what you told me before."

The teens were silent, more so than usual now. The once heated atmosphere had now completely vanished, sadly returning the balance to the room...

"I know you might not be actual friends, but you made it sound like you at least respected one another..." Hilda said, "but fighting like this, it's not getting anything anywhere. It just makes some situations even worse. It feeds to the demons inside us, and those kinds of things... can break even the strongest friendships..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So please... let's just stop this," Hilda said, "okay? It's done and over with so let's just keep going with what we got."

"..."

"...'

Wyatt quickly looked down in shame, stuffing his hands into both of his pockets. Catherine looked away, once again twiddling her fingers.

"Your... you're right..." Catherine said, "I don't know what I was thinking..."

"It's fine..." Hilda said, "as long as we can move past this, it's fine..."

"..."

Suddenly, Catherine turned toward Wyatt.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I shouldn't have made a big deal about everything... and I shouldn't have screamed about your... date..."

"..."

"Whatever... let's just go..." he said quietly, "we're gonna miss it if we stay here any longer."

Wyatt quickly entered back into the house, his footsteps echoing from the living room into nothing.

"..."

"..."

"Catherine... are you ready?" Hilda asked.

"..."

"..."

"Yeah..." she said, "let's get you home..."

* * *

**15 Seconds Later**

Shock. Horror. Fear.

It honestly never seemed to end for the group.

Outside in the front yard, the birds were singing playfully. People were walking around greeting one another with open arms. Even the air was casting a cool pleasant wind to starve off the effects of the heat.

But none of it mattered, because what lied in front of them was enough to dampen all of that.

Holes. Huge, ugly holes were slammed into the tires of Wyatt's car. The air inside didn't even leak out subtly, it was just all gone, laid out flat like a pancake.

"..."

"..."

"You've got to be kidding me..." Catherine said.

No one even needed to inspect the tires for any extra damage. Everything was just gone...

"This was clearly sabotage!" Wyatt screamed, "someone did this! The tires weren't like that before!"

"Well obviously." Veronica said. "You drove into the neighborhood blasting your little horn everywhere before!"

Wyatt didn't respond, as he instead began kneeling over the limp tires and attempted to fake his crying.

"WHO WOULD DO THIS TO YOU MY BEAUTIFUL!" Wyatt sobbed.

"AHEM!" Veronica said. Her arms crossed and standing with a glare in her eye.

Wyatt turned around and quickly wiped away his tears.

"R-right! You're also... right!" he said, "love you too, sweetie."

Veronica rolled her eyes at his pathetic attempt.

"Maybe a neighbor slashed them?" Veronica guessed. "After what happened I wouldn't be surprised."

"But what could they have used to cause this much damage?" Hilda asked, fear present in her voice.

"Maybe a sword?" Veronica answered. "Those can really mess things up."

"A sword?" Catherine said, "you really think someone has a sword laying around?"

"..."

Veronica barely bothered to respond to her.

Hilda looked back toward the car, silently cursing at herself for not watching it after everything that happened. If she didn't go looking for Wyatt and Catherine, she could've watched for any danger in case someone tried to sabotage it. Then they could've gone to downtown with no problem. Instead, she was to busy trying to get away from Veronica. And because of what? All for what?

Hilda stepped forward and looked at the truck. It was tipped over slightly due to the loss of air, revealing the underside of it. It was dark, ugly, and brown, but what was under all of that caught Hilda's attention more than anything. An object of some kind was gleaming in the light. It looked a bit big and sharp, so Hilda took extreme care of handling it as she took it out.

"I think I found out what caused this."

Stunned silence from everyone as suddenly, Hilda held up a knife. It was huge. Sharp. Shining in the light like a deadly present. She only needed to take one look at it to declare that it was a survival knife. It was the kind of thing she actually saw at the hardware store her mother used to work at because it was useful for almost anything. Despite how big it was though, it was surprisingly bent all the way to the side. Someone nearby must've been applying a truckload of force onto it as they were destroying the tires, so much so that the blade couldn't take it anymore and finally bent.

Whatever the case was, someone clearly used it. And whoever did, used it to damage the truck in a big way.

"Wait a second," Wyatt said, "is that my defense knife?"

Wyatt quickly picked the knife away from Hilda and inspected it.

"That thing is yours Wyatt?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah, I got it so I could defend myself from crazed maniacs on the street."

"You seem to get a lot of things." Veronica pointed out.

Wyatt took the blade and attempted to straighten it out.

"That's not going to work," Hilda said, "you're not applying enough force to it. Whatever caused this must've been really powerful. Especially since the blade looks like that..."

"Dang it!" Wyatt cried, "I really liked this thing too! Someone destroyed my Betty and my knife?! What kind of world is this?"

_A really strange one for sure..._ Hilda thought to herself.

"But if the tires are gone, we can't get to downtown for the book signing..." Catherine said, "and it's already 12:14!"

Hilda shuddered, knowing the problems that would come missing that event. They were going off a limb already trusting that Luke Pearson might've known the answer to there problem, but it was all they got. If they missed this, they'd have to resort to email, a luxury they couldn't afford knowing that the real flesh and blood human was nearby.

They had to get there... no matter what.

"Do you have any extra tires stored in your trunk?" Hilda asked.

"N-no... I only have some beach chairs and some flex tape," Wyatt said.

"Oh my god Wyatt, you bought flex tape of all things?" Catherine asked.

"It was a really good deal online," he said, "I was going on a shopping spree..."

Catherine sighed in response.

"Whatever, Hilda, I have some spares in my garage," Catherine admitted.

"Great!" Hilda said, "and do you have the tools needed to install them?"

"I have the spares... so I should have the tools as well..." Catherine said.

A little sliver of hope was finally in reach.

"Does anyone here know how to actually install a tire?" Veronica asked.

"..."

"..."

Hesitantly, Catherine and Hilda shook their heads.

"I do," Wyatt said casually.

"PERFECT!" Hilda screamed, "everything's in place then!"

And so, another plan was set by Hilda, one less complicated than the one from before.

"Wyatt, since you know how to use the tools, and I'm good a spotting things, me and you will bring out everything we need from the garage. "

Wyatt nodded with a serious look on his face

"Catherine and Veronica, you guys will strip away the old tires from the car and place everything where it needs to go."

Catherine nodded while Veronica rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Then, once everything is out, we place in the new tires together and speed down to PageFortyFive to speak with Luke Pearson before two rolls around. Got it?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Catherine agreed.

"You can count on me!" Wyatt said enthusiastically.

"Got it." Veronica simply put.

"Then let's do this!" Hilda said.

And so, the kids quickly set off to work, letting the sabotage of the car fade from their mind.

* * *

**2 Minutes Later**

It took a little longer then Hilda cared to admit, but they found everything.

The tools and tires were in the garage just like Catherine said, only they were stuffed away into tight corners long forgotten by their owners. If it wasn't for Hilda, Wyatt probably never would have found them. Thankfully though, Wyatt also helped out by pinpointing which things were required for installing the tires, and which others weren't. Hilda had no idea what the tools really looked like, so she was glad Wyatt was there to somewhat guide her.

When they were finished finding everything, they dragged it all outside, watching as Veronica and Catherine finished taking off the last tire.

"And that's the last of them," Catherine said, "you guys have the tools?"

Hilda nodded as Wyatt presented them into the sunlight.

"Great," Catherine said, "maybe we still have a chance to get there."

"If we want to get these attached fast enough," Wyatt said, "then we all need to contribute."

"..."

"Wait... what?" Catherine said.

"Attaching a tire isn't that hard," Wyatt said, "We all can do it ourselves for each wheel. What you need to do is place the spare tire on the hub. Take care to align the rim of it with the wheel bolts, then put on the lug nuts. Try not to install it backwards. The valve stem of a doughnut tire should face outwards, away from the vehicle. Like this."

Wyatt quickly inserted the tire into place with little problem and presented his hard work to everyone.

"I literally have no idea what any of those words mean," Catherine said, "but I'm sure I can crack it."

"Hilda had never changed a tire before though." Veronica explained. "What's she going to do?"

Suddenly, Hilda glared at her with stone-cold eyes. It was sort of... amusing in a way. It almost made herself laugh how hard she tried. But her attempt was very interesting indeed, just like everything else on this strange planet. Her little stunt wouldn't be forgotten any time soon.

"I think I can manage," Hilda said, "let's hurry up and do this."

The group nodded before setting to work. Wyatt and Veronica started setting up the two back tires while Catherine and her handled the front. Hilda listened very carefully as Wyatt educated everyone on what to do. It wasn't too bad for the most part, although the process was very complicated. Hilda found herself asking more than once where certain things went and how they went on those certain things. Wyatt was happy to help, as he already installed his tire before the others. This had caused Hilda to slightly get the hang of things as she started installing her own.

Still didn't mean it was completely easy, but rather she could understand a few things Wyatt was talking about as he began instructing them.

"Locking the pair of vise grips onto the edge of the rim can help in installing the bead," Wyatt said, "It keeps the tire separated from the rim, so you can insert it like this."

Hilda watched as Wyatt did just that, quickly inserting in such a way that hurt Hilda's eyes. But once he was done, the rim and tire fit perfectly.

"Wow, you're really good at this kind of thing," Hilda said.

Wyatt eyes widened a bit before smirking.

"Eh... it's whatever," he said, "I just know how to do stuff like this."

Hilda however saw something more. It was like whenever she saw Frida plan a whole project or David sing in a talent show. Both were naturally gifted in certain areas, and Hilda saw that same gift as Wyatt began tinkering with the truck. Despite his actions and clumsiness, he actually seemed to know what he was doing here...

"I got mine on!" Catherine suddenly said.

Hilda looked over to her side to see she was right. The tire was completely on.

"That's great Catherine!" Wyatt said, inspecting the tire, "it fits perfectly too!"

"I know! I can't believe it!" Catherine said, smiling.

She seemed way too excited over putting a tire to a car, but Hilda was happy for her, and the way that Wyatt was smiling made her feel like Wyatt was to.

"You know, maybe you can be a mechanic when you grow up," Wyatt said, "join me in the workshop and breathe the deep scent of gasoline and dirty motor oil."

Catherine laughed and shoved Wyatt away playfully.

"Ewww! Grows Wyatt!" Catherine said amusingly, "like I'd ever be caught in a dirty garage with you."

Both Wyatt and Catherine laughed, so much so that it caused a couple neighbors to poke their heads outside to see what the noise was. However, they only calmed down when they finally made eye contact with each other, blushing slightly.

"I know I already said this, but thank you so much for helping us," Catherine said, "it means a lot..."

"..."

"N-no problem..." he said, "uh... glad I was finally useful..."

"..."

"..."

"U-um... about earlier with the... fight..." Wyatt said, "I'm really sorry-"

"It's fine," Catherine said, "I'm just glad you're here with us."

Catherine smiled after she said that, and Wyatt soon followed suit, smiling just as brightly.

And just as that happened, Hilda felt her tire snap into place.

"Got mine in!" Hilda exclaimed.

Wyatt quickly came over and beamed brightly.

"Perfect! you did great!" he said.

He held up his hand for a high five, and Hilda quickly, but also politely, delivered it. Wyatt slowly moved back his hand and stared at it in awe.

"I just got a high five from Hilda..." he said, "this is the best day of my life..."

Hilda and Catherine both giggled as Wyatt started freaking out over in the corner. Now all that was left was one more tire to install, and that one belonged to none other than.

"Mine's not going in." Veronica growled.

Hilda looked over to find Veronica almost crushing her tire in an attempt to attach it to the car.

"Hold on babe, you're doing it wrong," Wyatt said, crouching beside her, "hold up, you want to insert it like this..."

Wyatt held Veronica's hand as he helped her attach the final tire. Veronica was stiff throughout the whole process.

"There, now it's in," Wyatt said.

"Never touch me again." Veronica interrupted.

And with that, she rushed into the car and plopped right into the front seat, quickly tapping her finger onto the dashboard.

"What's her problem?" Hilda asked, staring at Wyatt.

"Nothing..." he said, "she sometimes gets like this..."

_Really? _Hilda thought, staring directly at Veronica in the car.

"There's no time to ask questions team!" Catherine said, snapping Hilda back into the real world, "we have a book signing to catch."

With a stern nod, the group entered the truck and quickly fastened themselves into their seats. Hilda sank right into the fabric, noticing quickly how warm and cozy it was on the inside.

"Okay guys," Wyatt said, "who's potentially ready to break numerous road laws and possibly get arrested in an attempt to reach Luke Pearson?"

Everyone besides Veronica raised their hand.

"Perfect, then let's roll," Wyatt said.

Wyatt snatched out his keys, started the ignition, and practically bolted out of the driveway. It was only 12:45 at that point, but every second counted. And now there was no going back.

* * *

**The End Will Be Concluded in Chapter 4: The Entity**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Entity

**Part 4 of 4**

* * *

**Notice - Some mild language use.**

* * *

Before Hilda knew it, Wyatt was blazing down the road toward downtown Nottingham, breaking five million traffic laws as he did.

Hilda looked at the front seat of the car where Wyatt and Veronica were present. Wyatt was utterly focused on the road, his eyes never diverging or shifting in any way. Veronica was... smoking something weird... and listening to music on her phone. Catherine sat beside her, looking up how long the signing was taking place. At that point, it was 12:34.

"How much longer until we get there?" Catherine said.

Wyatt didn't say a word, he was too busy racing past the speed meter for the fifth time.

"Veronica? How much longer?" Catherine asked.

The dark haired girl looked back before taking her earbuds off.

"Three minutes." She said. "Now let me finish my music."

Catherine mumbled something before sitting back down, checking her watch urgently. Her eyes were darting back and forth between the window and her watch, carefully tracking their progress as they grew closer and closer to the main town. Hilda noticed she was tapping her foot impatiently while she did all of this.

"It's going to be fine Catherine," Hilda said, "we still have plenty of time before we get there."

"It's NOT fine!" Catherine interrupted, "what if we get there and there are too many people in line? It's a Luke Pearson event after all so there's bound to be fans there. And it's all based around you, so what if they recognize you and try to delay us or something? We don't even know if the author himself will know what to do!"

Now she was breathing heavily, almost as if she was having a panic attack.

"C-calm down for a second," Hilda said, "it might look bad now, but we're going to get through this."

"I-I'm just not sure anymore!" Catherine said, clutching her hands tightly, "what if everything goes wrong? What if we fail you? This isn't going to work!"

"Not every plan is guaranteed to work Catherine," Hilda said calmly, "but we still do them because it's our only hope of getting anything done about the situation."

Despite this, the girl still refused to calm down, checking her watch once more.

The silence was heavy in the car as the band of warriors drove on. No one said a word, not even Wyatt. It was completely void of emotion.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"When we get there... what are we going to do?" Catherine finally said.

"Find Luke and ask him to help us..." Wyatt responded, clutching the wheel tightly.

"But what if he doesn't know anything?" Catherine countered.

"It's our only plan right now," he replied, "we can't really do anything else but hope he has some super-secret thing he knows about Hilda's world that not even the public knows. Like a spell or creature that can send people to other realities."

When Wyatt said that, Hilda instantly went back through her memories and tried to recall every single creature or spell she's ever seen. Despite there being millions of them, not a single one she remembered had enough power to send people to other dimensions besides maybe the Nisse. But they only travel through the real world and the Nowhere space. And even if they did have that type of power, there wasn't a logical reason she could come up with that her explained _her_ being _here..._

Knowing Catherine and Wyatt, they must've seen her show long enough to also come to this conclusion. However, if Hilda reaffirmed that fact, even more, she knew both of them would just completely give up on the plan and try something else. She couldn't let that happen, especially in their current state.

"God this is so messed up..." Catherine said, burying her head into her hands.

"The part where you keep complaining or this entire plan of yours?" Veronica asked.

"Veronica..." Wyatt warned.

"I'm just being truthful here." she said. "If you _really_ don't think this plan is going to work, then you can just hightail it back home and stop wasting my time."

Even though she knew nothing about the teenager, Hilda hated every second of Veronica's presence. Just like Trevor and Victoria, she just reeked of a foul aura. Every single time she opened her mouth it made Hilda's blood boil, and she could tell from Catherine's expression that she felt the same way. The only reason she was even here was because of Wyatt, who Hilda guessed saw something in her...

She couldn't believe someone like Wyatt could ever see something special in a person like her though...

"Why don't we all calm down," Wyatt suggested, "it's not far now..."

"You don't need to fight my battles for me, sweetie." Veronica said. "I can take care of this pig myself."

"_Excuse_ me? I'm a pig now?" Catherine said, "w-well your... um... _nose_ looks like a pig!"

Veronica opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly, Wyatt stopped her.

"Guys..." Wyatt said, his voice low, "we're here..."

Everyone's breathing stopped.

Veronica took off her earbuds, Wyatt rolled down his window, and Catherine clutched her fingers tightly. Looking out the window, Wyatt was right. The bookstore was right there...

Hilda herself had a clear view of the shop where her creator resides in.

The shop on the outside blended in seamlessly with the other buildings. It was dark and small, squished together by multiple buildings around it to make a little rectangular shape. It reminded Hilda a lot of her home in Trolberg, except that her house was much bigger and had four stories. It rested on an incline of the street, and the front of the store had huge windows showing off new books for readers to enjoy.

The first thing that caught her eyes was the number of people inside the store. There were loads of people, most notably families, standing near the entrance of the store. All of them were inside, waiting patiently for Luke Pearson to sign their books. She saw all of them holding brand new copies of the new book. The "Mountain King" book...

That growing unease started to creep up on her once again.

She looked around at the car. Everyone was just as frozen as she was. Except Veronica, who was just now realizing where they were.

"Well, I guess this is it." Veronica said. "You ready?"

No one moved out of the car.

"Cold feet guys?" she asked.

Hilda didn't want to admit it, but she was right. Her feet were almost shaking. But she sucked up and shook her fears away.

"We've got no choice now," Hilda said, "let's do this..."

"WAIT!" Catherine yelled, stopping Hilda in her tracks.

Everyone was staring at her now.

"I-I just don't know about this..." Catherine interrupted, "the whole thing can go horribly wrong. Let's come up with another plan."

"The literal creator of Hilda's world is right there in the store, and you're stalling now?" Veronica asked.

"It's all so stupid, w-we should do more research, or a-ask Hilda if she r-remembers anything weird before she came here..." Catherine asked.

"I already told you, nothing was out of the ordinary that day," Hilda repeated.

"How about we... email Netflix about it?" she suggested, "maybe this is their newest episode and we're being secretly filmed or something..."

Wyatt suddenly whirled around toward Catherine in a fit of annoyance.

"Do you see any cameras nearby recording us?" he asked seriously.

Catherine took the time to actually look around outside the car windows before shaking her head.

"There's your answer," Wyatt said, "it doesn't seem like much, but Luke Pearson is the only other person who knows everything about Hilda. So... he's our best shot."

"You're putting too much faith in the guy." Veronica said. "I doubt the old hag will even give us anything."

"He's only thirty-two Veronica," Wyatt said.

Veronica rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car. Before anyone could argue with her, she quickly made her way out of the truck and slammed the door in their face. The force exerted was loud enough to scare away the nearby birds.

"What in the world is her problem?" Hilda asked, watching as the girl stormed her way to the store.

"She's just cranky," Wyatt answered, "she's been anxious all week about something, so maybe it's just that."

"Well, she shouldn't take her anger out on us," Catherine replied, "we're supposed to be working together... like a _team_."

"I'm doing the best I can here Cath," Wyatt said, "it's hard enough to check on her after what's been going on."

Hilda turned her attention away from the duo and watched as Veronica made her way into the store.

"We need to go after her before she does something," Hilda said, opening the door.

"Hold on a second, you need a disguise before you go in," Wyatt said, "something to cover you up completely when we go in the store.'

"But we didn't bring anything like that with us," Catherine said.

"_You_ didn't bring anything like that," Wyatt corrected, "I always come prepared though."

He quickly took off his massive hoodie and tossed it over to Hilda.

"What in the-?" Hilda said before the massive jacket hit her in the face.

She cringed in anticipation, waiting for the disgusting scent of B.O to invade her nostrils. Surprisingly though, she breathed in the fruity smell of flowers instead.

"No one can tell it's you under there, I mean look how big it is!" Wyatt said.

"That was your big plan?" Catherine said, "for her to wear your hoodie?"

"The thing covers her entire body," Wyatt replied.

"But I can't even walk in this," Hilda added, pulling the jacket off her face.

"That's the point," Wyatt said smiling, "not the walking thing though, you'll just have to roll up the jacket a bit."

"Is this really what we're really going with?" Catherine said.

"Think of it as improv," Wyatt said, "we're just making the best of a bad situation."

Looking at the jacket one more time, Hilda slowly began putting on the massive thing. The sleeves devoured her arms. The hoodie smothered her hair. The rest of the jacket poured over her body and legs. It was only when she had the entire thing on that Hilda realized how embarrassingly short she was compared to everyone else in the car.

"I cannot believe you're making me wear this," Hilda said.

"You didn't object right away," Wyatt said.

Hilda glared at Wyatt, but said nothing more.

"Don't be so mad at me," Wyatt said, smirking a bit, "I think she looks adorable in it,"

"Oh my god, Wyatt stop it," Catherine said, but Hilda could detect her giggling a bit too.

For some reason, Hilda found herself smiling along as well. At least these two offered her some respite during this time, she wasn't sure if she could do that with Veronica nearby.

"Ok, can we please get this done now?" Catherine said, swallowing a few more giggles.

"Yeah, I think we're finally ready..." Wyatt said, "let's do this."

The teens made their way out of the green truck, with Hilda tagging along behind them as they approached the store. Because of how huge the jacket was, she had to maneuver her body in a way so the ends of it didn't fold under boots. It was kind of embarrassing, but at least no one would notice her. How could they in the ridiculous ensemble?

They quickly crossed the street and made it to the door. It looked innocent enough, but to Hilda, it felt like her chest was going to explode.

"Here we go..." Wyatt said, "you guys ready."

Both of the girls firmly nodded in union.

With their confidence set, Wyatt quickly opened the door.

The first thing that hit her was the sound. Hundreds of people's voices overlapped one another in the small space, talking excitedly about different things Hilda couldn't pick up right away. This was her first time seeing actual people this close beside Catherine and Wyatt, and most of them looked pretty normal in her eyes. There were a lot of people, but she noticed tons of kids too. Some older, some younger, some even looking her age. They wore hundreds of different outfits, taking in hundreds of different ways, thinking a hundred different things.

And all of them were holding the Moutain King book happily in their hands...

And then there was the bookstore itself. The place was quite small, but the number of books it held was impeccable. There were so many different sections. Romance. Fantasy. Sc-Fi. Tragedy. Historical. Historical _Fiction_. Children. Fairytales. Adventure. Humor. Mystery. _Crime_ Mystery. Thrillers. Poetry. Short Stories. Poems. Classics. Biographies...

So many different types of books. So many different types of people. Waiting for the same thing...

And in the middle of all this confusion was a table.

And on the table were books of her. Way more than she first thought...

And sitting at that table greeting the next people in line...

Was Luke Pearson.

* * *

**...**

* * *

She thought she accepted it.

She thought she had come to terms with her existence.

She thought she had...

But now... seeing the man in front of her...

It felt like...

She didn't really know what it felt like...

But it felt like something worse...

Something much worse than before...

If she had to describe it...

She would say...

It felt like the end of days in her chest.

The person who created most of everything in her life was right there... signing books that he made of her...

He looked... so normal...

Normal hair...

Normal clothes...

Normal smile...

...

His face... was a _bit_ odd...

But looked like any other person on Earth...

Even in Trolberg... Hilda wouldn't have even glanced at him...

But here...

He made everything...

He made them...

Her heart began pounding thinking about it.

She thought she understood...

But she was wrong...

Why was she brought here?

To realize her existence meant nothing again?

Her heart began beating against her chest.

He looked normal.

He acted kind...

But he made her existence...

It felt so weird knowing that...

She was never _supposed_ to know that.

But here she was...

Staring at him...

And for a _brief_...

_Microscopic_...

Second...

In the cluttered confusion of the store...

Their eyes...

Made contact...

_*Tink*_

* * *

**...**

* * *

"Hilda?"

Hilda snapped out of her trance.

She was okay. She was still alive. She was in the bookstore with Catherine and Wyatt. She was fine. Everything was fine...

So why did her heart feel like bursting out her chest?

"Hilda, what's wrong?" Catherine said.

She looked up to find Catherine in front of her. She had knelt down to meet at Hilda's eyes, her hands on her shoulders. A worried look was present on her face, concern damped in her eyes.

"I-I'm fine..." Hilda said, but she realized how stupid that sounded when she said it out loud.

"I know that's not true," Catherine said, "come on, talk to me here..."

Hilda looked back at the table, her mind quickly running wild.

"I thought I accepted it," she said, her hands shaking, "but I can't. Catherine I just can't..."

Hilda looked down, her boots the only thing sticking out of the huge jacket.

"What do I... what do I say to him?" Hilda asked.

"You don't need to say anything if you don't want to," Catherine added.

"But... I feel like I _need_ to," Hilda said, staring at the table.

The man had finished signing another person's book, smiling at them as they excitedly began talking about something. She wondered if it was about her...

"Hilda," Catherine said, "I'm... not good with this kind of thing... but... it's going to be okay. When you meet him, just do what you feel is best..."

"I feel like jumping out the window," Hilda said, "that's how dire this situation is right now."

"O-okay, how about _not_ doing that," Catherine said, "um... maybe you could... u-um-"

Before Catherine could finish her sentence, Wyatt cut her off.

"Guys, we better hurry if we want to get Luke's help," Wyatt said, interrupting the girl's conversation, "Veronica's talking up a storm with him right now, and I think security might be getting pissed at her."

Looking over, Hilda noted that Veronica was actually talking to the author. However, she was rather rudely leaning over the table to meet his eyes, and was ignoring the complaints of everyone else in line.

"She's going to get us all kicked out," Catherine muttered.

"Which is why I think we should _hurry_!" Wyatt responded.

"Hilda is having an identity crisis here Wyatt!" Catherine replied, "go take care of it!"

Despite his annoyance, Wyatt stumbled away, quickly catching up to Veronica.

"Well, this is less than ideal..." Catherine said, "it really is now or never Hilda..."

Even with her words, Hilda couldn't stop looking at the man. He made... everything It was to much to process, even for her.

How... could something like that even be possible?

"Hilda..." Catherine said suddenly.

She almost didn't pick up the words. She kept thinking... how much... it was dawning on her...

"Hilda... look at me for a sec..."

The young girl finally felt something slide into her hand and squeeze it reassuringly. This is what caused the explorer too finally focus her attention back at Catherine.

"I know this sucks Hilda," Catherine said, "this entire situation sucks, and it all just... sucks. But we have to push through so you can get home, and..."

She was silent for a moment longer, a look of conflicting in her eyes before suddenly blurting out a sentence.

"And if it makes you feel better, I'll stand by your side for as long as you need until you're ready..."

The adventurer was surprised by the act of kindness. For the whole time she was here, Catherine had insisted on hurrying to get the whole ordeal over with, but now she was willing to just... wait there with her...

...

Why...?

Why was she...?

...

...

To my dismay, Hilda nodded confidently from Catherine's words...

"I'm fine..." she said, "let's do this..."

"Are you sure?" Catherine asked.

To answer the girl's question, the brave adventurer began making her way past the line of people toward the table where the author sat. Despite her growing unease, she was... ready. She was ready to go home and see her friends again...

She could do this...

...

What a _**pitiful** _excuse...

* * *

_*Tink*_

* * *

Together in hand, Catherine and Hilda made their way over to the table. Wyatt and Veronica stood their ground against the complaints the customers were holding, distracting Luke for as long as they could.

Ignoring the protest of the crowd beside her, Hilda squeezed Catherine's hand tighter and tighter. This was it... the moment she'd been waiting for.

One more step.

One more glance at the door...

Now...

It was time...

Standing in front of her, was her creator. The man that invented her entire world. The man who made **_everything_**...

And he was staring...

Right over Hilda's head toward Catherin.

"Can I help you?" he asked, staring at the group in confusion.

Wyatt was sweating nervously. Catherine was slightly shaking. Even Hilda felt her skin turn cold. The only one there who didn't seem to have any problem was Veronica.

"You sly asshole." She said threateningly, "we need you in the back,**_ right now_**."

Hilda and Luke's eyes widened in response.

"V-Veronica!" Catherine said.

"Where... did this come from?" Luke asked.

"Excuse her sir," Wyatt butted in, "she's... very vocal about things..."

"Damm right," Veronica said, crossing her arms.

"Please ignore that," he continued, "we... actually need your help."

The growing number of insults and complaints from the line we're getting louder and louder. Hilda started to get concerned if they were going to get kicked out before they could do anything.

"Well, what can I help you with?" Luke asked patiently.

The group fell silent...

...

...

...

Finally, Catherine stepped aside so Luke could get a better view of Hilda. With Wyatt's hoodie on, it was hard to tell who she was, but she slowly lifted it up so he could see.

For a second, there was confusion present on the young man's face.

...

...

And then, complete _**shock.**_

Wait... no, not even that. Complete... horror. Or fear? Or maybe even disgust.

The young girl cleared her throat before nervously speaking to him.

"Uh... hi there..." Hilda said, "...um... surprise...?"

The girl nervously smiled, along with the rest of the group sheepishly. It was clear that they had no idea what they were doing.

Luke simply ignored this childish display and stared inspecting the girl for a long time. He studied her face, and then her eyes, and her mouth, and nose. Hilda allowed her blue hair to stick out of the jacket, and he inspected that too.

Finally... after many minutes of inspecting, he cleared his throat and stared at the upset crowd.

"Um... a-attention everyone..." he said, "it's come to my... knowledge... that something has come up. So... I'll be in the back for a bit... but I'll be right out soon..."

...

...

...

_**"OKAYGREATGOTTAGOTHANKSBYE!"**_ Luke abruptly yelled, dragging the teens to the backroom before slamming the door.

The crowd watched the entire scene play out... completely silent...

...

...

...

A random boy in the crowd broke the silence.

"What... the fuc-"

* * *

**Literally not even a second later...**

The door slammed shut before Luke quickly locked it, his breathing hastened from the sudden reveal he experienced.

"What the heck is going on here?!" he asked quickly, staring at the group of kids in shock who were still getting over the whiplash they experienced.

"U-um... do you want the short version, or the long version?" Hilda asked, her heart pounding.

Luke didn't respond, instead deciding to double-check if the door was locked. While he did this, the group relaxed now that the crowd of witnesses were gone from view.

"Did anyone see you?" Wyatt asked.

"I don't think so," Hilda said, "your jacket provided good cover. But thank god I can get rid of this now."

She quickly took the thing off and tossed it over to Wyatt.

"Well, at least the twenty dollars I paid for this thing were worth it," he said, putting it on without to much trouble.

"You paid twenty bucks for that?" Catherine asked.

"It seemed like a steal at the time," he answered.

All the girls in the room simply stared at the teenager with an unimpressed stare.

"First an ugly truck, and then a twenty-dollar jacket?" Veronica said, "how stupid are you?"

Regret spread across Wyatt's face after she said that, which angered Hilda to the very core.

"H-hey... that's uncalled fo-"

"W-who cares about jackets... a-and price tags on s-sale..." Luke said, walking over to the group, "more importantly... h-how... is this..."

He stopped short when seeing Hilda face to face. The anger she felt for Veronica mere moments ago quickly subsided... because now...

She was standing next to Luke Pearson.

The two stared at each other again, this time for an even longer time than before. There was no denying what either of them saw. For Luke, he was witnessing his most successful creation come to life right before his eyes. And for Hilda, she got to see the _true_ god of her world standing right in front of her. Both of their brains were trying to process the info... but nothing could make any sense of it.

"Um... you guys okay...?" Wyatt asked, standing awkwardly to the side with Catherine and Veronica.

"This is a big thing for both of them..." Catherine said, "we should... just let them do what they need to do..."

Hilda overheard their little exchange but paid no mind to it. The god of her world was right there, and he was... geeky? Actually, that wasn't the right term for it. More like average. He looked completely average compared to her...

And yet...

The two stared... and stared... and stared... and kept staring... and stared again...

...

Finally, Hilda, hesitantly extended her hand to shake.

"U-um... Hi..." she said, "it's... nice to meet you..."

Luke just stared dumbfounded at the child, before quickly coming to his senses and shaking her hand.

"N-nice to meet you too..." he said, "um... this is certainly... unusual..."

It was weird to be greeted by her creator. It felt like... a billion suns were blowing up in Hilda's chest, and yet a humongous downpour of rain was dampening the glow. Somehow... meeting him was awful... but also... liberating... like she had finally accomplished the thing she had been putting off for the longest time...

And for some reason now... she... wasn't scared anymore...

She was... happy he was nice...

And that Catherine was there...

And Wyatt as well...

...

**_No..._**

_..._

_Shaking my _head back into reality, Luke quickly stood and stared at the girl, and then at the rest of the group before her.

"Um... so... anything I should know...?" he asked.

* * *

**5 Minutes Later**

It took a long time to help Luke understand what had happened, and it took an even longer time to convince him he wasn't dreaming.

Catherine did most of the talking since she had been with Hilda the longest, explaining most of the events that happened in the real world. When she was done, Hilda quickly explained what had happened in her world a day prior to when she was transported there. Nothing unusual happened... and during that time she didn't go on any adventures...

After he was informed on everything he sat back a bit in his chair and began to think.

"Do you know what's causing this?" Wyatt asked, "any... like beast or monster that you know about?"

The author sat quietly for a few moments, pondering his thoughts for a bit.

"I... think I know what you're dealing with," Luke said a grim expression on his face.

Hilda remained silent as the author quickly scanned through some notes, her heart pounding louder and louder as the pages swished together. Her breathing became ragged. Her throat had lumped. She didn't want to say anything until he showed her what had caused this.

"Yep," Luke said, his finger landing on a pile of drawings, "with everything you described, I know what it must be."

The whole group almost erupted into shouting.

"W-what is it!?" Catherine asked.

"Show us already!" Wyatt said.

"What did this?" Hilda questioned.

"How can she get back?" Veronica sneered.

Luke allowed for the group to ask their questions before pulling out an illustration. She hated to admit it, but it was better than all of her drawings combined. From what she could see though, it didn't look like any creature she's seen before. It even looked a bit... grotesque in nature.

The rest of the group observed the paper, and their reactions varied from disgust to anger.

"What the hell is this?!" Catherine said.

"Yeah, I've never seen this in the show before..." Wyatt stated.

"That's because I've never put it in," Luke explained, "but everything you guys told me reminded me of it just now. It can only be one thing..."

"And that is?" Catherine asked.

Luke stared at the group with a dark expression.

"It must be a '_**realm splitter'**_..."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

..

"Pardon my french... but what the _fuck_ is a realm splitter?"

"Wyatt!" Catherine exclaimed, hitting him in the arm.

"S-sorry!" Wyatt said, "I just never heard of something like that before..."

"That's because I never implemented it," he confirmed, "it was just a concept I thought of briefly. I never actually elaborated on it or finished it though."

"W-wait," Hilda said, still confused, "how is this thing responsible for me being here?"

"U-um... well... I planned for it to be a sort of... villain..." Luke said, "the idea was that... well... it was a beast... that held extraordinary power... and it could travel through dimensions with ease. It's only purpose was to cause pain and misery to others, and in my scrapped book... you were going to stop it.."

"Wow, way to traumatize a child even further, Catherine said, crossing her arms.

"Which is why I never put it in," Luke defended, "that idea was too dark, and way too creepy... so I scrapped the idea."

"But if it actually exists, then why bring her here?" Catherine asked, "why Hilda specifically? Why now? Why not before?"

"Didn't you hear him?" Wyatt said, "its goal is to bring misery. It's rival was Hilda..."

Wyatt grew silent for a few moments, glancing at Hilda with a sad expression.

"If it wanted to torment her... then what better place to do it than where she was created?"

It was only then that Hilda finally understood.

All the things she saw. The things she's learned. They all just so happened to bring her pain and misery. The fighting. Her existence. The thing that had pulled her from her own reality was a realm splitter. And the reason why had finally been put to light...

"That's why it brought me here..." Hilda confirmed, "to bring me misery... because of my existence as a cartoon..."

"Yes... that's probably the reason," Luke said.

"But she's not a cartoon!" Catherine objected, "If she was, then how is she standing here right now breathing a-and l-living? How is this happening at all?!"

"Well... maybe it's because of the multiverse?" Wyatt suggested.

"Oh my god, don't even start Wyatt," Catherine said, "this isn't D.C we're talking about."

"No, think about it," Wyatt said, "if this... realm splitter... pulled Hilda out of her reality and into our own, then that means this thing must exist in another universe, where the concepts that didn't make it into Hilda's story are actually real. So that must mean there are more universes out there. Hilda's one, our universe, and wherever this freaking thing lives. So maybe it was stuck in another universe for a long time until something let it loose."

"Like what?" Veronica asked.

"I don't know exactly," Wyatt said, "something that could unleash it or something. But... this might prove that multiverses are a thing."

"I think it was proven the second Hilda showed up here." Veronica said.

"Great... just another thing to prove how insignificant we are in the universe," Catherine said.

"Well, we always knew that, didn't we?" Hilda commented.

"Y-yeah, but who cares," Catherine continued, "is there any way we can undo the effects of this thing and get Hilda back home?"

"There actually is," Luke said.

Hilda's heart stopped.

'W-well how then?" she asked, her heart pounding.

"It's... a bit complicated," Luke said, "you see... the realm splitter is the only thing that can travel between dimensions, but it can only do it with a special gem."

"A gem?" Wyatt asked, "like a diamond or something?"

"No, it's different than any normal mineral," Luke said, "it's kind of like... space dust in the form of a gem, concentrated into a rock and used to travel through dimensions."

"I don't think that's how space dust works," Catherine said.

"Well, it's all fictional," Luke said, "again, I never elaborated on it."

Catherine rolled her eyes at the clearly illogical explanation.

"So, we just need the gem," Hilda said, "and to get it, we have to get the realm splitter."

"Yeah... that's going to be a problem," Luke said, holding up the drawing of the thing.

Hilda had only seen a quick glance at it when Luke initially held it up, but now that she was closer to it, she finally realized the sheer horror and size of this thing. The creature appeared sickly and long, with stretched limbs that were painfully contorted with bones sticking out. Its claws were long and sharp, and its fangs protruded from its forehead down to its unhinged jaw. The scale ratio beside it indicated it was even bigger than Raven in his shapeshifted form...

And then there was its torso...

It was cut open, to reveal a swirling vortex whipping around in vague shapes and colors. Organs, blood, and other types of liquids were spilling out of it, revealing billions of cold, dead eyes that blinked individually. In the middle of this horrific infinite void, was a single gem, floating in the middle...

This was the Realm Splitter...

"We have to face off against that?!" Hilda said out loud.

"It's... huge..." Catherine said, looking at the paper in horror.

"I'm sorry, but why the hell would you make it bigger than Raven!?" Wyatt asked, "do you know how freaking large that is compared to us?!"

Luke was quiet, looking a bit embarrassed now.

"Again, I didn't know it would come to life and mastermind all this," Luke said, "and in my defense... I needed to make the final fight... a bit intense you know?"

"Intense? You've made it damm near impossible for us to fight back!" Wyatt countered.

"Now hold on a sec, I never said we needed to fight it," Luke said, "in fact, our best course of action is to contain it somewhere."

...

...

...

...

"Have you lost your mind?" Veronica asked.

"Not quite," Luke said, "because if the realm splitter is indeed real, then that must mean the ritual to summon it is real as well."

Everyone was taken aback by the sudden solution.

"S-summon it?" Hilda said, "like with magic...?

"It's not like that," Luke said, "it's pretty simple actually. For this to work, we only need a small bit of blood from the person affected. Four drops of blood will do the trick, and then that person will chant along a few lines. Then, four participants must sacrifice an item closest to them, and together in a circle, surround the person and chant along with them. That should bring this monster out of hiding."

"So exactly like a cult." Veronica said.

"We're not sacrificing anyone here, just items," Luke corrected.

"For a god." Veronica continued. "Though, I gotta admit. This sounds badass."

Wyatt glared at her, causing her to stop talking.

"Anyway, once the dream walker appears, it'll be trapped in the circle created," Luke continued, "and all we have to do is take the gem out of its chest. That should kill it, and then you can use it to go home."

...

...

...

...

"Would... that really be it?" Hilda asked, "than I could go home?"

"To the extent of my knowledge, yes," Luke confirmed.

"_To the extent?_" Catherine repeated, "what the hell does that mean?"

"Well... I never expected any of my work to come to life," Luke said, "so... I have no idea what's going to happen if we actually try this out..."

"You don't know?" Wyatt said.

"It's still just a guess," Luke continued, "I mean, this was a scrapped concept I made a long time ago. For all I know, maybe it isn't this thing that's causing this."

If it wasn't a realm splitter, then they would be back at square one. But Hilda couldn't have that happen. She had to get home as soon as possible. She had to get back to her mum, and her friends who were waiting for her. She needed to do this...

"We have to take the chance," Hilda said, "if I'm real... then maybe this... thing... is as well. We have to try..."

"Are you sure you want to do this though?" Luke said, "once we start, we can't go back, and if we interrupt the ritual, it could escape the barrier and be let loose...'

If it escaped the ritual circle, then it would be over...

"It's your choice Hilda," Catherine said, "we can find another way if you want..."

"She's right," Wyatt added, "there's still plenty of other options le-"

"No..."

Everyone went silent from her response.

"We can do this," Hilda said, "it's our only shot for now... so..."

She breathed in deeply, remembering all of her friends and family back home, before turning around to the group.

"Let's... _DO THIS!_"

* * *

**4 Minutes Later**

Luke had quickly set up the preparations for the ritual.

The once cheerful and cluttered backroom now produced an ominous dark tone. Most of the middle was cleared for him to draw out the magic circle on the floor with four sections on the outside producing a square shape. The small circles outside provided as standing points for the others to chant along and sacrifice their items while Hilda spoke her lines. The lights in the room had gone black, with the candles nearby emitting an eerie glow upon everyone's faces. Wyatt had left his destroyed survival knife in the car, but Veronica had offered up a switch-blade for Hilda to use to draw her blood.

Hilda decided not to question the girl on where she got it. After she was done with this, she would never have to see Veronica again.

For the most part, everything was ready...

Except...

"We need the items we'll sacrifice for the ritual," Luke said, "that's the only way this can work...

Hilda had almost forgotten about that part, but luckily, since she was the one who had to draw blood, she didn't need to get rid of everything. The others though weren't as fortunate as her. She looked at Veronica, Catherine, Luke, and Wyatt. All of them had to offer something up in the circle to be incinerated for the realm spitter's arrival. It had to be something close to them... but what would they give up?

The young girl watched as Luke pulled out his item. It was... another book.

"What is that?" Hilda asked, not recognizing the cover.

"Oh... um, well... it's a book... that deeply impacted me," he explained, smiling a little bit, "it's called, 'His Dark Materials'... it... really influenced how I created your world..."

Hilda looked at the book again in curiosity. She had never heard of it, but looking at the cover, she could tell it was a book she'd also like to read if she had the chance.

"It seems nice," Hilda said, looking back at Luke.

The author was stunned for a moment, before sheepishly smiling himself.

"Y-yeah... it is..." he said, "but... to get you home, I'll sacrifice my oldest copy."

Next up was Veronica, who pulled out...

A lighter?

"It's precious to me." Veronica said. "So this whole cult thing better be worth it."

Typical Veronica. But this time, Hilda couldn't bring herself to be mad. Because now, Wyatt was nervously revealing his item. He was hesitant at first, but after glancing at Hilda, he quickly took out... a wallet...

"Money? Really Wyatt?" Catherine asked, "that's your sacrifice?"

But Wyatt didn't stop there. He slowly opened the wallet with shakey hands, and pulled out a photo.

"Oh..." Catherine said, realizing her mistake.

From the expression on Wyatt's face, it looked like he cared about it deeply. The photo was of him and Veronica, both in the park. It was clear they were trying to take a selfie, but from what Hilda saw, it looked like Wyatt had gotten something on his face, and Veronica was laughing playfully as she tried to wipe it off him. In that moment, Hilda could see why Wyatt had fallen in love with her. The joy in her eyes. The brightness of her smile. Even the tender way she tried to wipe away the thing on his face. It reminded her of her own friends whenever they hung out. Even if they had their fights, they still cared for each other...

Was Veronica really like that at one point?

"Is that me?" Veronica asked, staring at the photo.

"Well... yeah," Wyatt said, "remember the park? Where we got that ice cream with those little sprinkles? It was the best day of my life."

"Oh my god... you're so cheesy Wyatt," Catherine teased, slightly smirking.

"Maybe I like to be that way," Wyatt suggested, smiling at her.

Both of them stared at each other for a bit before Veronica quickly got between them.

"I totally remember that." she said casually. "It was so fun. And I'm glad you're here right now."

Before he could respond, Veronica quickly kissed Wyatt on the cheek as a show of thanks. But there was something off about it... When Hilda looked over at Catherine, she could tell she could sense it as well.

"Thanks, babe," Wyatt said, "now all that's left is Catherine..."

Everyone's eyes quickly landed onto Catherine, who stood there awkwardly holding her item behind her back. She looked... uncomfortable.

"Well, Catherine?" Wyatt said, "where's your item?"

Hilda watched as the teen girl rubbed her arm nervously.

"I-I..." she said, "It's... weird..."

She was stuttering again...

"Catherine, it's okay," Hilda said, "you don't have to be afraid."

"I-I'm not afraid," she answered, "I'm just..."

She glanced over at Wyatt before covering her eyes.

"U-uh... hold on a sec," she said.

Instead of revealing what was in her hand, she quickly took off her hair bun and presented that instead.

"My mom gave this to me," Catherine said, "when I was just eight years old. She wanted me to use it myself when my hair got in the way... and it was that day when I realized... she trusted me to make my own calls."

That did seem like a very good item to choose, but something was off with Catherine's voice...

"Okay then," Luke said, "if that's everyone's item, that let's start-!"

"Wait!" Catherine yelled again, her voice panicky "W-wait... what happens when we get the gem?"

"Well, Hilda will use it to go home," Luke said.

"I know but... can she use it in her reality to visit us?" she asked.

Everyone had stopped breathing at this point...

"What do you mean?" Veronica asked.

"W-well... this whole time you've been talking," Catherine started, "it seemed like someone could use the gem multiple times... so... in her world, can she use it to see us?"

Hilda had to admit she didn't think of that. Visiting this world didn't seem like a good idea, but Catherine and Wyatt were really good company. And if she could use the gem again, she could show them her world... and vice versa with her own friends. Maybe... she could introd-

"Sadly, only the realm splitter can use it multiple times," Luke said, "in the story, I planned that only a human can use it once, and that was it. The gem would be destroyed forever."

Hilda's heart stopped in her tracks.

"What?" Wyatt said, "so... it's only one use?'

"Yeah..." Luke said, "you'll still retain your memories of this place, but it's only one way. No coming back..."

So that would be it. She would go back home after this ritual with the knowledge of her existence. And she would leave Catherine and Wyatt here with the knowledge that their favorite cartoon character had come to life. How were any of them supposed to go on after this?

"Oh... I really thought that..." Catherine trailed off.

The group was silent, the crushing weight of the situation destroying them.

"I really don't want this to end though..." Catherine said.

Her meek voice echoed in the room, causing a collective heartbreak in all who heard. Catherine had been so supportive to Hilda this whole time, and now she was going to leave her behind after all of this.

"It's fine Catherine," Wyatt said, "we all knew this was going to happen."

...

...

...

"I-I just thought..." Catherine said.

She stood there quietly, shaking a bit from the thought.

"This is the last time we'll see each other..." Catherine said, "I didn't think it'd end so soon..."

The guilt in Hilda's heart grew to the point where she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Catherine... I'm so sorry," Hilda said, taking the girls hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"N-no, It's okay... I'm fine..." Catherine replied with a shaking voice.

"No, you're not," Hilda said, "and I'm so sorry I can't do anything to fix this. It... sucks so much..."

The two girls stood together, the circle awaiting them to enter.

"I'm so sorry Hilda," Catherine said, "I really do want you to go home and see your friends again, but it's so hard..."

Hilda was silent for a moment, remembering all that Catherine had done for her.

"You kept your promise," Hilda said.

Catherine looked at Hilda in surprise.

"You helped me get home," Hilda said, "and even if this ritual doesn't work, you still helped me despite all of these things holding you back. You helped me deal with my identity and this whole situation..."

...

...

...

"So... I know it's not much... but... I want you to know I'll never forget what you did for me," Hilda said, a smile forming on her face.

Catherine looked at the young girl in surprise, but then, she quickly hugged Hilda. Both of them had started out this whole thing together, and now, this might've been the last time they'd ever see each other again. But even if they're time was short-lived, Hilda knew, she would never forget her.

"Hey, where's my tearful goodbye?" Wyatt said in an amusing tone.

Both Catherine and Hilda chuckled a bit, also including him in the hug. At first, Hilda wasn't so sure about him, but now she knew, that Wyatt was worth being called a friend as well.

All that was left now... was to start the ritual.

* * *

**The Ritual**

At first, it was quiet.

Whispers could be heard all around the explorer, no doubt belonging to Wyatt and Catherine. Still though, Hilda closed her eyes tightly.

A shock riddled through Hilda's finger, causing her to flinch from the feeling. She opened her eyes and watched as crimson blood dripped onto the dark circle under her. They splashed upon impact, spreading thin streams to unknown destinations...

Only four drops were needed for this to work.

_..._

_..._

_*drip*_

...

...

...

...

_*drip*_

...

_*drip*_

...

...

...

_*drip*_

Hilda closed her hand to prevent any more blood from spilling out. Now, she had to follow along to the lines provided to her by Luke. She cleared her throat... and began speaking.

_..._

_"Let the dark swallow thee."_

_"Take my pride. Let me leave."_

_"Gifts are laid, your majesty."_

_"Split the ties, set me free..."_

_..._

After she said the last word, she repeated the chant again as Luke laid his book onto the circle and joined her.

_..._

_"Let the dark swallow thee."_

_"Take my pride. Let me leave."_

_"Gifts are laid, your majesty."_

_"Split the ties, set me free..."_

_..._

Veronica tossed her lighter into the circle and happily joined in.

_..._

_"Let the dark swallow thee."_

_"Take my pride. Let me leave."_

_"Gifts are laid, your majesty."_

_"Split the ties, set me free..."_

_..._

Next was Wyatt, who laid his photo down carefully into the circle.

_..._

_"Let the dark swallow thee."_

_"Take my pride. Let me leave."_

_"Gifts are laid, your majesty."_

_"Split the ties, set me free..."_

_..._

**_*Tink*_**

The candles flickered out, and all that was left was silence...

Hilda's heart began to pound. Was it real? Did the realm splitter actually exist and was coming to the circle? That couldn't be right though... because Catherine hadn't put her item down yet. She held her bun closely to her chest, her eyes glancing at the others nervously.

Finally, without any input from Luke, she quietly set her gift upon the final circle...

Now, was the final chant...

_..._

_"Let the dark swallow thee."_

_*drip*_

_..._

_"Take my pride. Let me leave."_

_*drip*_

_..._

_"Gifts are laid, your majesty."_

**_*Tink*_**

**_..._**

**"Split the ties, set me free..."**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

...

...

...

**_"Finally..."_**

* * *

**Hilda**

Nothing could be heard.

My heart pounded against my bones and yet I couldn't hear it. I opened my eyes carefully, but when I did, I saw nothing. It was just dark. Darkness here. Darkness there. It was everywhere. Oh god, what was this? Did something go wrong? I couldn't see anything. Where was Catherine? What about Wyatt? Or even Veronica? Had I gone home? Was this nightmare over.

I opened my eyes. But there was darkness. Why? I couldn't make sense of it. One second we were doing the ritual, and the next, everything was gone from reality. Was this even real anymore?

Instinctively, I felt the need to begin patting the surface of the floor. If I could feel the objects, I could make my way around the room. So I...

I...

...

W-what?

I... couldn't move...?

W-why couldn't I move?!

No matter how much I strained my arms, they wouldn't move a muscle. Not even a finger. I couldn't even see my fingers! W-where was I? What's going on? I-I felt like I was losing oxygen!

"M-mum," I spoke, "mum..."

She wasn't answering, and my voice was quiet...

Panic began to rise inside me. All I could see was darkness in front of me. I couldn't move. I could only stare ahead of me. There was nothing, but a dark feeling told me that I should be running.

Something was going to break out of the darkness.

And smile.

And then it would...

...

...

Oh... god...

There was... a hand...

It crawled out of the void in front of me.

And then another.

And then there was a face.

And it smiled.

It was a wide smile...

I couldn't move.

Or scream.

My throat tightened around itself.

I couldn't call for help.

"Mum...

Alfur...

Raven..."

It came closer.

And closer.

And closer

And closer.

And closer.

And running.

It rushed to my-

* * *

**"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Hilda awoke with a start, screaming loudly as she flopped onto the hardwood floor below her. Her heart was racing, sending adrenaline shooting through her veins as she quickly got us and began frantically looking around...

Everyone else was on the floor, groaning painfully as they clutched their heads or stomachs. Luke was somehow unconscious. Catherine was actually screaming. And Wyatt was trying to compose himself and stand up. The room was pitch black now since the candles had been put out, so all Hilda could do was shakily stand up herself and call out to the others.

"G-guys?" Hilda said, "is... e-everyone okay?"

"I'm fine..." Wyatt said, grunting as he stood up.

Catherine, who was the closest to Hilda at the time, managed to nod.

Hilda noticed that Veronica had managed to stand up, but she didn't appear to be in pain. In fact, she looked... different now...

She didn't have time to deal with her though. Everyone else was hurt and needed her help. She quickly made her way over to Catherine to help her up despite the sharp feeling of pain in her head. The girl was on the floor, her hands pressed against her head like her life depended on it. There were even silent tears were running down her cheeks...

"C-Catherine... I'm here..." Hilda said, helping her friend up carefully.

Despite her size, Hilda was able to prop her up against one of the tables. Catherine stood wobbly against it, trying her best not to fall over.

"T-thanks..." Catherine said, holding her hand against her head again, "I-I just need a minute..."

As Catherine began calming down, Hilda took a look at the rest of the room. Wyatt was helping Luke up, who appeared to be the one affected most by the ritual. He was practically passed out in Wyatt's arms, who was trying to his best to make sure the author didn't fall from his arms. If anyone from the sign up barged in here now, they would be in big trouble for attempted assault.

But that wasn't the main focus of the scene. What caught everyone's attention was the circle...

It was empty...

There was no realm splitter to be seen. No gem to take Hilda home. No portal she could hop into. Absolutely nothing...

And that included all the items they put inside.

"W-what happened? Did it work?" Wyatt asked.

"I-I'm not sure," Catherine said, "Luke? What's going on?"

But Luke wasn't getting up. His body was slumped over one of the chairs, completely stiff...

"Oh god, w-we need to call someone!" Catherine said.

"But what about the ritual?" Hilda said, staring at the circle "why didn't it work?"

"_It worked?" _someone said.

That voice, it ran everyone's blood cold. It sounded just like her, but somehow, it didn't sound human either.

That voice.

...

It belonged to...

...

**Veronica...**

...

"It... always worked," she said wickedly, a smirk appearing on her face.

She stood up amongst the rest of the group, her black boots allowing her to appear taller than all of them.

"W-what?" Wyatt said, clearly dumbfounded, "what are you talking about?"

"Y-yeah, what's going on?" Catherine asked, backing away slightly.

The girl chuckled, but it sounded more like soft wheezing instead. She turned toward the group with her head tilted to the side, which allowed her raven hair to cover her eyes. But even then, no one needed to see them to guess how she was feeling. Her smile, it was so wide and so bright, that Hilda was sure she could destroy suns with how unnatural it looked.

But that was the whole point, wasn't it?

The photo. The appearance. Her attitude. It all came together for Hilda in a millisecond.

"It was you..." Hilda said slowly, "you brought me here..."

"_**Incorrect,**_" the thing echoed.

Veronica looked at the young girl with that same wide smile. It caused Hilda's heart to freeze in place whenever she saw it. That face... there was no way it belonged to that body.

"You... brought me here Hilda," it said, giggling to itself.

Suddenly, the true form of the beast began to take shape. Almost abruptly, the world shook, sending the group tumbling back further into the room. The body extended harshly, taking the form of an animalistic shape. It's arms contorted out of Veronica's old skin and clawed its way onto the floor. The old head melted away into a boney mesh, revealing empty sockets underneath staring coldly at the group.

It's chest burst open, with cosmic swirls and stars erupting out into a whirlwind of dust. It's bonified figure had been complete. And now all that was left was the gem.

But it didn't appear anywhere near the beast. For some reason, she couldn't see the gem that could take her home...

Hilda couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was... impossible. It was all too impossible to understand

"W-what the hell is this?" Wyatt chimed in, "what the hell happened to Veronica?!"

The thing simply chuckled, staring at Wyatt with little interest.

"Veronica. That name you keep saying," it said, "I guess that's this meat bags name. It's... overused..."

The creature tossed what once was Veronica's body over to Wyatt, where it then flopped lumpy beside his legs. Wyatt's eyes widened in response to this, his face morphing into anger.

"W-WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER YOU FUCK!" he roared.

"You summoned me..." it said calmly, "I needed a host, and it just so happened this sack was available. Thanks to all of you... I've arrived."

Hilda was completely dumbfounded watching all of this transpire she almost had no idea what to do now.

"N-no, that doesn't make any sense!" Catherine countered, "the ritual was supposed to contain you, not release you into someone's body! Luke said so himself!"

"Than I guess someone wasn't following the rules," it said.

Hilda followed it's gaze to see it watching both Wyatt and Catherine. Wyatt looked completely enraged at the moment, but Catherine was now shaking like a leaf. No matter what it said, there was no way Hilda could believe they messed something up. Everyone followed the rules perfectly. Expect... Veronica herself... she just tossed a lighter in half-heartedly with no care...

That must be why her body was taken over...

But... none of this made any sense to her. Something wasn't adding up!

"Veronica did this," Catherine said, "she didn't care enough to follow Luke's warnings."

"N-no! There's no way that's true!" Wyatt said, "Veronica was one of the kindest girls I've ever met! You did something to her you... SICK FUCK!"

The beast laughed loudly, rumbling the Earth around it as its chest glowed. Hilda could see something sharp begin to take shape in there... pointing straight at Wyatt!

"Watch out!" Hilda yelled, pushing Wyatt out of the way.

They narrowly dodged the piercing chains shot their way, which instead attached to all four corners of the room and completely tore them apart.

**"_I WILL BRING THE DOWNFALL OF ALL WORLDS__!" _**

The entire Earth roared, crackling and groaning into split edges and sharp drops. Hilda watched as the floor below her rattled into two separate pieces, rumbling apart into two directions. Catherine and Hilda quickly pressed themselves safely on the side moving away from the beast, but Wyatt and Luke were both stuck on the side heading toward the monster!

"W-Wyatt!" Catherine yelled.

"You need to jump!" Hilda screamed.

"NO! I-I have to destroy this thing!" Wyatt yelled.

"You're going to die you idiot! Jump!" Catherine screamed.

Before Wyatt could even take the warning, the beast began to scream a raw bloody sound. It was enough to send Wyatt flying back into Catherine's arms. which caused them both to crash onto the floor. Hilda rushed to their side in a panic, only breathing out in relief after seeing no scars or bruises on them.

"Are you guys okay?" Hilda asked, helping them up to their feet.

"N-no! They got Luke!" Wyatt screamed.

The trio's attention was back on the realm splitter, which picked up Luke's unconscious body and hung it loosely nearby for later use. The man that tried to help her... the creator of her entire world... was being hung around like a ragdoll...

"Y-you... GOD... FUCK!" Wyatt screamed.

Hilda and Catherine had no words for what they were seeing.

Because what happened next, was almost impossible to understand.

The world... the entire world. In a single moment, it changed. It was no longer Earth. The ground, the roads, the grass, it disintegrated into infinite space. The sky's blue hue morphed into a cosmic inferno. The room they stood in began floating into the darkness of the void. Reality began to tear in on itself, revealing cracks of billions of others world mixing together and bursting into new life. With each tear, a new vision. These were billions of realities, popping in and sputtering out in their billions.

And that wasn't even the worse part.

Billions of people, around this world, melted in a single second. It was... horrific. Men. Woman. Kids. Babies. Elderly. Toddlers. Families. Siblings. Twins. Aunts. Uncles. Leaders. Homeless. Everyone. They melted away into a huge pile of blood and guts. Their screams echoed into this new reality, implanting themselves into Hilda's mind as she and her friends floated into an endless abyss.

She wondered if this was happening in other realities...

Was Trolberg getting destroyed? What would happen to her mother...? To Twig and Alfur? And Tontu and Raven? And... David and Frida? Were they all dying right now? Was she the last one alive?

...

All of a sudden, it seemed like it didn't matter if she was a cartoon or not.

Because now, everyone's realities were being destroyed.

And in the middle of it all were two teens, and one little girl.

Wyatt was fuming, screaming and cursing at the monster. Hilda knew his rage must've been unlimited, but there was nothing he could do right now to quell it. Catherine had just stopped moving. She slumped against the wall, staring off into the void with a distant gaze. In the distance, Hilda herself could see the realm splitter begin making its jumbled home out of the debris, it's wicked smile painted bright and clear for the poor explorer. Luke said it seemed for nothing more than the pain and misery of others, and it achieved that on a universal scale.

It won...

...

...

...

...

...

...

How... did it come to this?

* * *

**Stay Tuned for the Next Book, Realm Splitter!**


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